Christian charity to give $11 million to needy Holocaust survivors

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
A Christian charity is donating $11 million to 28,000 destitute Holocaust survivors in Israel and around the world ahead of the upcoming Jewish New Year holiday, the organization announced Tuesday. The Chicago-based International Fellowship of Christians and Jews said it will give 11,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel a NIS 1,800 holiday gift each, while 17,000 survivors residing abroad will receive NIS 1,050 each. 250,000 Holocaust survivors are living in Israel. About one-third of them - primarily new immigrants from the former Soivet Union - live in poverty, recent Israeli welfare reports have found, prompting a recent landmark government accord to increase their state stipends. "The reports of the dire circumstances Holocaust survivors find themselves in have helped us reach the decision that we must lend a hand and help those who survived the most difficult period in human history," said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.