“I wouldn’t be surprised because of forced conversions away from Judaism that there are many people who don’t know they are Jews. I think there are people around the world that are part of the Lost Tribes that don’t even know it yet.”
Lesser highlighted elements about the Fellowship
Even though it is headquartered in Chicago, The Fellowship is the largest philanthropic organization in Israel.
They have an impact in that they are a voice on the ground to let Jews around the world know that they are not alone and that there are Christians standing with them that love them and are with them in their fight for survival.
Yael added, that IFCJ creates projects in Israel that aren’t being done.
For example there are tens of thousands of poor elderly, including Holocaust survivors who receive ongoing food, medicine and volunteers to visit them because of their efforts.
“Without the Fellowship this type of support would not be available in Israel. We help the elderly to not have to choose between food, paying their rent or having their medicine.”
The Fellowship also helps the Israeli government make emergency rescues of Jews living in increasingly anti-Semitic environments, a most recent example being in the Ukraine. For its part, the Fellowship sponsors the flights to bring these people back to Israel.
Yael said the Israeli government has recognized the impact of the Fellowship for quite some time, but that they do not provide any money to the government.
“If we’re able to make our money go farther because the government is partnering with us on a project then we are happy to do that.”
A good example of this came during recent Pesach (Passover).
She said with no national food program in Israel and there is a great need. Two years ago around Pesach the Fellowship said they would donate $2M to help provide Seder meals for poor Jews and the government joined with them by providing an additional $2M because of the Fellowship taking the initiative.
In addition to Aliyah and helping the elderly, the IFCJ provides support for orphans and gives food cards to poor Christians in Israel for Christmas.
When asked if there were any noteworthy stories of those impacted by the Fellowship she had two that came to mind.