What chances does an impoverished individual have to extricate himself from poverty? And what are the chances that a child growing up in an impoverished family can achieve as much as a child growing up in wealthy family? Are the odds the same for both? Can a society continue to exist indefinitely when there are large gaps between the rich and the poor?

These days, many Israelis are keeping a close eye on a discussion by many wise people looking to find answers to questions that haunt society like a black cloud: Is it possible to fight poverty and defeat it? Is poverty an unavoidable part of life? How can we build a bridge between those who have a great deal of capital and those who don’t have enough to live a decent life?

Behind these questions lurks a great worry. Former Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer last June described Israel’s economic gaps as a key threat to the existence of the state, “even more than the security threats,” he said.

Once a year, the National Insurance Institute (NII) publishes its annual poverty report for Israel. This day is always a gloomy one because of the despair that arises over the statistics. On this day, the various media outlets go to great lengths to cover the report. Newspapers devote their headlines to its figures and statistics, and the television channels compete to emphasize stories of people felled by poverty.