In a special feature with Ynet, our President and Global CEO Yael Eckstein sat down with Ynet to talk about The Fellowship’s work in Israel for the past three years since October 7 and living in the Holy Land during volatile times:
Over the past two years, she has raised more than $500 million in donations and increased the number of regular donors to The Fellowship to 800,000 worldwide. Since October 7, the organization has contributed more than 1 billion shekels to a wide range of aid and rehabilitation programs for Israeli civilians. Immediately after the massive missile barrage on Israel from Iran last week, she allocated an initial -basic necessities for residents whose homes were damaged.
“There is an idea that has stayed with me since childhood, and I always return to it,” Eckstein said. “‘Hineni (here I am).” For me, it is a statement of responsibility, I am ready to do the hard and right thing. Even after man was expelled from the Garden of Eden, and was cast into an imperfect reality, when he heard the calling: “where are you?’ he came out of hiding, stood up, took responsibility and began to repair the world.’ On October 7, I understood that I do not have a rifle and I cannot join the fighters at the front. In that sense, I cannot do anything. But I am in a unique position, and I can do something.”
“The extreme events of the past two years created wide circles of pain and distress that we had never known,” Eckstein said. “Alongside the immediate mobilization, we understood that reality had changed, and we adopted a broader vision in The Fellowship’s efforts to support the many populations added to the circles of distress in diverse ways.”
