Written by: Tedfuel
Yael Eckstein is president and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship, leading all ministry programs for the organization, which is the largest Christian-supported humanitarian organization helping Israel and the Jewish people. In 2021, The Fellowship raised more than $200 million to help more than 2 million Jews in need in Israel and around the world.
As President and CEO of The Fellowship, Yael Eckstein oversees all ministry programs and serves as the international spokesperson. Prior to her present duties, Yael served as Global Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Director of Program Development and Ministry Outreach. Based in Israel with her husband and their four children, Yael is a published writer and a respected social services professional.
She has contributed to The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, Newsweek, and other publications, and is the author of three books: Holy Land Reflections: A Collection of Inspirational Insights from Israel, Spiritual Cooking with Yael, and Generation to Generation: Passing on a Legacy of Faith to Our Children. In addition, her insights into life in Israel, the Jewish faith, and Jewish-Christian relations can be heard weekly on The Fellowship’s radio program Holy Land Moments, broadcast on over 1,300 radio stations around the world. In 2021, she launched her weekly podcast, Nourish Your Biblical Roots, in which she shares spiritual insights and lessons from the Torah. And each month, Yael invites leading Christian and Jewish thought leaders to her podcast to discuss Jewish-Christian relations and Israel’s significance on the world stage on Conversations with Yael.
Yael has partnered with other global organizations, appeared on national television, and visited with U.S. and world leaders on issues of shared concern. She has been a featured guest on CBN’s The 700 Club with Gordon Robertson, and she served on a Religious Liberty Panel on Capitol Hill in May 2015 in Washington, D.C., discussing religious persecution in the Middle East. Her influence as one of the young leaders in Israel was featured as the cover story of Nashim [Women] magazine in May 2015. Four years later, The Algemeiner named Yael to the Jewish 100, referring to her as “the world’s leading Jewish interfaith activist.” In 2020 and 2021, she was named to the Jerusalem Post’s list of 50 Most Influential Jews, and in 2022, she made the list of “50 of our favorite Jewish women right now” by Future of Jewish.
A Chicagoan born in Evanston, Illinois, and well-educated at both American and Israeli institutions – including biblical studies at Torat Chesed Seminary in Israel, Jewish and sociology studies at Queens College in New York, and additional study at Hebrew University in Jerusalem – Yael has also been a Hebrew and Jewish Studies teacher in the U.S. She lives in Israel with her husband and their four children.
Yael Eckstein has been a strong advocate for addressing poverty and income inequality around the world, and especially in Israel.
In December, The World Inequality Lab published their World Inequality Report 2022, which highlights the worldwide trend of the rich getting richer. Over the past 20 years, the gap between the average incomes of the top 10% and the bottom 50% in countries has nearly doubled, from 8.5 times to 15 times.
A leading example of this growth in income inequality is Israel. While average incomes in Israel are higher than in France and the UK – the average adult income in Israel is equal to roughly $65,843 – the bottom 50% of the population have average salaries of just $17,092, while the top 10% boast annual earnings of $323,634, nearly 19 times that of the bottom 50%.
Israel’s inequality levels are very similar to the US, with the bottom 50% of the population accounting for 13% of all national earnings, and the top 10% accounting for 49% of all national earnings. Israel and the US are considered to have the worst income inequality in the developed world.
The income inequality in Israel increased significantly due to Liberalization reforms nearly 30 years ago; a slight improvement since 2012 has had very little impact.
One area where Israel received decent marks is gender equality. Women make up 38% of the labor force, on par with North America. Western Europe posts slightly better marks, but the labor force in the neighboring Middle East is still only made up of 15% women.
According to Israel’s National Insurance Institute, 1.92 million people, or one-fifth of the population, was living in poverty in 2020. This included 864,000 children.
