Some people are deluded by the idea that Jews are all wealthy. That is a complete illusion, because no matter which society, there are the extremely wealthy at the top end of the spectrum and the extremely poor at the bottom end of the spectrum.
According to the National Insurance Institute’s 2018 data, 21.2% of the Israeli population lives in poverty. As if this was not alarming enough, the statistics are even more dreadful when speaking about children living in poverty: 29.6% of the population (almost 1 in every 3 children).
Against popular belief, poverty is not only associated with people who grew up in a low socioeconomic environment and remain with that socioeconomic status for their whole life. Results from a survey of Latet’s aid recipients found that almost half of the aid recipients (who by definition are poor) defined themselves as belonging to the middle class in recent years, before deteriorating to poverty (according to Latet’s 2017 Alternative Poverty Report).
June Vandermark
McBride, BC
