Yechiel Eckstein

Born in Winthrop, Massachusetts, Eckstein was the son of the Rabbi and psychologist Dr. Simon "Sy" Eckstein (1919–2016) and his wife Belle Eckstein (née Hirschman) In 1952, when he was just a year old, Eckstein moved with his family to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as his father accepted a newly created rabbinic post as the Chief Rabbi of Ottawa, where he was raised, as his father oversaw four synagogues, two which eventually merged to form Congregation Beth Shalom. He was a graduate of Yeshiva University High School for Boys. Eckstein served as a faculty member at Columbia University, the Chicago Theological Seminary and the Northern Baptist Seminary. ==The Fellowship==

After serving as national co-director of inter-religious affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, Eckstein founded the Holyland Fellowship of Christians and Jews in 1983 to help Christians and Jews work together on projects promoting the safety and security of Jews in Israel and around the world. The organization was renamed the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in 1991. Its first goal is to provide material aid to needy Jewish families and the elderly, for example, by helping them buy food and medicine. A secondary mission is promoting Jewish emigration to Israel. The third is supporting the Israeli military by aiding poor Israeli soldiers. When Eckstein started the Fellowship, he had no salary, no medical benefits and a pregnant wife. He worked part-time as a rabbi. In the early years, he received the majority of his donations from fellow Jews. Often these gifts were grudgingly given. "I don't know what you're doing, and I don't know if I like what you're doing," one Jewish philanthropist from Chicago said to him, but he nonetheless donated. Eckstein was also known for private donations to the Israeli military, through the US-American lobby group "Friends of the IDF". ==References==