“One Israeli child out of three is poor, a poverty report reveals. Every third child in Israel lives below the poverty line, according to an annual National Insurance Institute (NII) poverty report released recently.
Over 400,000 families in Israel suffer from “nutritional insecurity,” a euphemistic term for “hunger.” 28% of Israeli citizens, or 1,600,000 people are living in poverty. Among them are more than 600,000 hungry children. Those experiencing “nutritional insecurity” eat smaller portions, skip meals and, in extreme cases, don’t eat for a whole day. Diets may be high in carbohydrates and lacking or almost devoid of meat, dairy products, vegetables and fruit. In Israel, 22% of families are deemed moderately insecure and 8% suffer from severe insecurity.
A family’s situation is considered moderately insecure when the parents deprive themselves of food to ensure their children get what they need. In families whose situation is severe, the children are deprived as well. 60% of nutritionally insecure are Jewish, 20% are Arab, and 20% new immigrants. 80% of nutritionally insecure people reported a deterioration in their situation in the last 22 years, as Israel economic conditions have deteriorated. About 24% of Israelis are forced to make choices between food and other expenses such as mortgage, rent, medicine, heating and electricity. About half choose to get along with less food. The ‘poverty line’ in Israel in 2002 was NIS 4,500 a month ($937.50) for the average Israeli family of four – mother, father and two children.
Signs of how severe the problem is are all too apparent on the streets of Israel. In Jerusalem, for example, nearly 1,000 people a day come to four soup kitchens at which hot meals are served. It is also commonplace to see older men and women picking through the garbage at outdoor markets in Israel’s cities. The collapse of the economy has taken a great toll on the lives of Israel’s poorest families, and many children from middle-class families are now joining their ranks. Unemployment in Israel is around 20%, and the difficult economic situation has taken its toll on huge numbers of Israelis.”
The above is a report from Israel News Agency– and many Jewish still people continue to experience poverty in the Land.
Israel Benevolence Fund sends the money you give to take care of practical needs to bless Israelis, along with helping local Messianic Jewish believers feed the poor in Israel. A local ministry wrote, “Our two soup kitchens in Haifa and Upper Nazareth continue to receive an increasing flow of referrals, many of them from municipal social workers. We now distribute 3300-3500 meals a month.”
When the Jewish believers came from Jerusalem to speak with Rav Shaul (Paul), Rav Shaul wrote, “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” (Galatians 2:10)
G-d takes note of what we do out of love for Him. He sent the angel to Cornelius, and the angel said, “‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.” (Acts 10:31)
Thank you for what you do for the least of these, Yeshua’s physical brothers and sisters.