In case you come across this article in "Yated Ne’eman" that tries to argue that it’s not worth it for the state to draft Haredim, pay attention to the trick:
The author calculates how much it costs the IDF to maintain a married Haredi soldier, discovers that he’s more expensive than a regular soldier, and arrives at the astonishing conclusion that maybe it’s actually worth it for the state to leave the Haredim in yeshiva.
Just one small thing is missing from the calculation:
what happens when there’s no Haredi soldier?
Someone else has to serve in his place.
According to data presented in the Knesset, every additional 1,000 Haredi combatants can save the need for about 6,000 reservists over the course of the year. And the chief economist at the Treasury estimated a month of reserves at about 48,000 shekels in cost to the economy and an additional month of a regular soldier at about 27,000 shekels.
In fact, according to the Treasury’s calculation, drafting about 10,000 Haredim instead of extending service for others could save the economy about 6.7 billion shekels over three years of service.
And this is even before factoring in the possible impact of service on Haredi men entering the workforce and their productivity.
Of course, one can argue that a married Haredi soldier is more expensive for the IDF. That’s true in some cases. But presenting only his cost and completely ignoring the cost of whoever is required to serve in his place is not economics.
It’s simply a very creative way to arrive at the conclusion you already knew you wanted to reach.
In short, kudos for the creativity, and try harder next time.
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