Under the Radar
Where we talk to and learn about Mitzvah heroes, those amazing people who are doing their part in Tikkun Olam and making the world a better place to live in.
Under the Radar: Joelle Eckstein
Written by Arnie Draiman and Eliana Klibanoff
Some of our Mitzvah heroes see a need not being taken care of and dive in to help. Others go through a personal calamity and create a chesed project in response. Joelle Eckstein did both. Twice.
Joelle was born and raised in Barcelona, Spain and made Aliyah in the early 1980s. Her father was a respected and very active Jewish community leader in Barcelona, so from a young age she grew up with a sense of giving back and doing things for others. After meeting her husband Yechiel – who was the head of a large non-profit helping people in need – she made the decision to become actively involved herself in Tzedakah work.
With the sudden, tragic death of her husband in 2019, Joelle decided to continue her husband’s legacy by creating a non-profit in his memory: The Eckstein Fund (Keren Eckstein), which provides a social welfare hotline for any and all Israelis in need of support. This Tzedakah project helps hundreds of people every month by directing them to services available, and they also fund, on a one-time basis, specific items for a person/family in need (for example, baby formula, a fridge or bed, or a food package or electric bill, etc.). Nearly 100% of the money donated to Keren Eckstein is used for people in need (and not overhead costs).
After losing her own husband, she felt there was no one in Israel who could truly support her and understand what she was going through. There were programs for younger widows, older widows, and widows who lost their husbands in the IDF, but Joelle could not find a program suitable for her age group (roughly 40-60 year olds) to truly understand what she was experiencing. “Even though people think they understand, it’s not until you go through widowhood that you can really understand what it’s like… you can’t identify [with us] until you go through it,” relates Joelle.
If creating and helping run the Eckstein Fund wasn’t enough to keep her busy, one day in December 2020, Joelle invited two other women seeking the same type of group over to her house, starting her first widows’ support group. Another few women joined, and the group met every other week just to talk, laugh, vent, or cry. This group still meets once a month and a new, additional group was started, which meets once a week. Joelle also began a group for older women in French, which she was able to do because she speaks French (and Spanish and English – all fluently). She used her Spanish skills to start a YouTube channel that goes live every week and has viewers in Israel, South America and many other Spanish speaking countries. Joelle also started a podcast in English to talk about her cause.
The main purpose of this specific program started by Joelle is to raise awareness for widows and put their needs out there. “It’s not just the support groups,” she explained, “it’s to make sure other people understand what we’re going through. People don’t know how to relate to us… they really don’t know what to say.” Joelle also planned an event to commemorate International Widows Day last month.
There was a small conference with speakers consisting of medical professionals, “positive thinking” psychologists, and a panel of social workers. There was also a laughter workshop, which helps people learn to laugh again and feel emotions other than sadness.
Joelle has dedicated her life to Tzedakah and Chesed through all these incredible initiatives, and she does all of this voluntarily. Her impact may seem small, but to the people she has helped it is definitely big – very big and life-saving. She can be reached through the Eckstein Fund (Keren Eckstein, in Hebrew) at joelle@k-eckstein.org. Click here to learn more about the Eckstein Fund.
Eliana Klibanoff is currently a student at Midreshet Torah V’Avodah in Jerusalem. She hails from Livingston, NJ, is on a year-long Bnei Akiva program and has acclimated to being in Israel for the past year. She hopes that she will be able to contribute to Israeli society in this field of interest.
It’s not just the support groups, it’s to make sure other people understand what we’re going through.
Related Articles
Related
Joy Comes in the Morning – an interview with Sherri Mandell
Joy Comes in the Morning An interview with Sherri Mandell By Penina Taylor No parent should ever have to bury their 13-year-old child. Such a tragedy is enough to fell even the strongest of us. But when a grieving parent takes all of the anger and sadness and channels...
UNDER THE RADAR – 3 Women’s Legacies
Under the Radar Where we talk to and learn about Mitzvah heroes, those amazing people who are doing their part in Tikkun Olam and making the world a better place to live in.This is a special column – Three short vignettes, dedicated to the memory of these special...
Under the Radar: Meredith Rothbart
Under the Radar Where we talk to and learn about Mitzvah heroes, those amazing people who are doing their part in Tikkun Olam and making the world a better place to live in.A feminist, an Orthodox hair-covered-with-a-head-scarf Zionist, an IDF veteran, a mother of...