International Fellowship of Christian and Jews
 

Founded by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and based in Chicago and Jerusalem, The Fellowship is governed by board members from both faith groups as it works to build bridges between the Christian and Jewish communities.
 

In recent years, The Fellowship’s On Wings of Eagles  program has provided millions of dollars to help Jews make aliyah (immigrate to Israel) from every corner of the globe, including the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, India, and Europe.  The program also assists them with their klitah (resettlement) once they arrive in Israel.  The Guardians of Israel  program provides food, clothing, shelter, and other urgent needs for Israelis suffering from high rates of poverty, terrorism, and war.  The Isaiah 58 program provides poverty-stricken elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union with food, clothing, housing and survival necessities, and rescues orphaned and abandoned Jewish children from the streets, sheltering them in Jewish children’s homes throughout the FSU.

A statement by Rabbi Eckstein on the IFCJ website explains:

“I’m often asked what motivated me (to start the ministry of IFCJ)…and I attribute it to an event that happened some 25 years ago.  I came to Israel for the first time with a group of Christians.  And my roommate on the tour was an 86 year old Black Baptist minister from Virginia.  The first day I went onto the verandah overlooking the gorgeous city of Jerusalem, and tears came to my eyes at the realization I was there, praying in front of God in my homeland… 

Well, that night, I came into the room late -- and when I came in, I saw my roommate kneeled over the bed, his hands stretched out to heaven and he was crying, sobbing like a baby…and he kept saying, ‘Lord, Lord, thank you, thank you…I’m luckier than Moses; Moses only got to see the Promised Land -- I got to walk in it before I died.’  And I realized at that simple but profound moment that this 86-year-old black Baptist minister from Virginia, and this 25-year-old, newly ordained white Rabbi from New York had far more in common that I ever imagined.”  It was their shared love of God, and the commonality of their bond to the Holy Land that inspired Rabbi Eckstein to build bridges of understanding and healing, and to begin to “reverse 2000 years of sad and tragic history” that has separated Christians and Jews.

International Fellowship of Christian and Jews
 

Into His Light Ministries is proud to partner with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews as it works to better the causes of Israel and Jews world-wide, creating bridges of healing and restoration among the Jewish and Christian cultures. 

Thank you, Partners and Friends, for making it happen!

To learn more, go to www.ifcj.org.