Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, interfaith activist who raised millions in Christian donations for Israel, dies at 67

(JTA) — To the many colleagues and supporters of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who died Wednesday at the age of 67, he was a man of vision whose enormous drive to succeed both facilitated and complicated his relentless efforts on behalf of the Jewish people.

[color="Red"]As head of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, or IFCJ, the New York-born rabbi raised hundreds of millions of dollars in donations — mostly from Christians — for projects benefiting needy Jews and Arabs in Israel and beyond.
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“He was a tireless worker for the Jewish people and for Israel, and he made significant contributions by fostering evangelical support for Israel,” wrote Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

Eckstein, who grew up in Canada and moved to Israel in 1999, began his involvement in interfaith dialogue with the ADL in 1974 and started the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in 1983. [color="red"]Using television advertising, his tremendous charisma and tireless outreach legwork in the United States, he made unprecedented headway in raising funds for Israel and Jews in crisis situations among evangelicals.
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“[T]he majority of evangelicals are passionately pro-Israel because it is part of their theology to love and support the Jewish people,” Eckstein wrote in 2002. “I could not accept the conditional love of those who expect a payback on behalf of my people. I could not embark on a relationship that would compromise my personal integrity and ideals or that of the Jewish community I represent. But having been the first — and most often the only — Jew to build bridges with the right-wing Christian community, I have a view and understanding of their pro-Israel fervor that most people ‘on the outside’ lack”

https://www.jta.org/2019/02/06/israel/rabbi-yechiel-eckstein-who-raised-360-million-in-christian-donations-for-israel-dies-at-67