The story of the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt bequeathed to us, their descendants, a moral principle repeated dozens of times in the Torah: we must remember that we were strangers in the land of Egypt, and we are therefore commanded to care for the vulnerable and the outsider among us. During Passover week, as we commemorate both our suffering and our redemption, it is worth asking what this commandment means for Israel today.

The vulnerable are those at the mercy of others, including the poor. Israel ranks uncomfortably high among developed countries on two key measures: poverty and inequality. During the large waves of immigration in the state’s early years, poverty was widespread, but inequality was relatively low. It grew in the 1980s, with economic reforms such as privatization and cuts to social benefits. Among OECD countries (a club of economically stable democracies) Israel now ranks 30th out of 37 in public welfare spending, with all that implies for the less fortunate among us. Have we learned the lesson of........

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