The Journey Home: An Orthodox Rabbi and a Christian Journalist See Israel Through Each Other's Eyes and Strengthen Their Faith

The Journey Home, although technically fiction, has it seed in actual events and a real friendship the Rabbi had with Christian pastor Jamie Buckingham.

The Journey home is Eckstein’s personal testimony. It is in almost every respect a true store set against a fictitious backdrop of a walk with Jamie Buckingham in the Holy Land. Through that walk together, each one finally arrives at his own destination and finds his own spiritual fulfillment in a surprising way. Each proves an inspiration to the other, while remaining true to his own faith. Each grows profoundly within his own unique spiritual tradition, and so, in separate but parallel ways returns home.

The Journey Home tells the remarkable story of two spiritual struggles, one of a proud Jew seeking fulfillment and one of a Christian whose faith is in need of renewal. It is a compelling spiritual quest for completion and rest in God, in which Jew and Christian lean upon and support each other in wonderful ways.

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein’s work with the International Fellowship of Christian and Jews, which he founded in 1983 and heads, and prior to that with the Anti-Defamation League, is an expression of his profound commitment to the ideal of Christian-Jewish fellowship. After twenty-five years in this field, he remains encouraged by the fact that millions of Christians in the U.S. and abroad feel a special kinship with the land and people of Israel and draw great spiritual sustenance and enrichment from them. At the same time, many Jews today are altering their historically-shaped mistrust of Christians, and fostering, in its place, a spirit of cooperation and understanding with them.

Rabbi Eckstein is the author of a number of other books, including, What You Should Know About Jews and Judaism (Word Publishing 1994) and How Firm a Foundation (Paraclete Press 1997). He also hosts a variety of nationally syndicated radio and TV programs.