By NIR KIPNISJULY 8, 2026 16:25The law, which has been dubbed the "Torah Students Law," is provoking great public fury due to it being part of laws and regulations that discriminate between one blood and another.These laws doom secular young people to a more combative and prolonged mandatory service – and to a more intensive reserve duty (due to the increasing operational needs of the IDF) – and exempt from service not only those who truly study Torah (as if that alone were not outrageous enough), but even those who are merely reported as "Torah students" – despite the fact that between them and Torah studies there is absolutely nothing.Thus far, the principle-based aspect in a nutshell – which has been joined by several convincing arguments against the law, primarily due to the legislative process: From the desire to compensate the draft evaders' representatives in the Knesset for the failure to pass a "pseudo-conscription" law (which would have legitimized the exemption), through Knesset members voting against the explicit conscience of their voters (the Likud is indeed becoming more Haredi, but many of its supporters are still among the public that serves faithfully in the IDF, let alone regarding the Religious Zionism people), and ending with the hasty procedure, which completely screams of a political grab.The last sentence perhaps explains the step taken by Dudi Koppel, the legal advisor of the Finance Ministry, who sent a letter to the legal advisor of the Knesset Committee, Arbel Asterhan, to warn against possible implications of the legislation.Why is the recipient specifically the legal advisor to the Knesset Committee? Because this committee is supposed to prepare the law for the next readings, after it was approved in the plenum in its first reading last week.Although ostensibly this committee has no touchpoint with the law and its content, in a blitz like a blitz: Everything is kosher before the Knesset is dissolved, for the last time in the current government's term.A rally of Haredim against enlistment to the IDF (credit: FLASH90)Tens or hundreds of billions?In the letter, Koppel illuminates angles that were somewhat forgotten in the heat of the principle-based debate, from the economic field – and let us go straight to the bottom line: An immense economic damage of tens of billions(!) of NIS to the economy, as a result of the law and its implications.Various economic officials claim that even this immense sum is an underestimate, since in an examination of possible economic damage for the coming years, it is possible that the cumulative cost will reach hundreds of billions of NIS.What are the main areas of damage and from where do the gaps in cost estimation stem? Well, the main immediate economic damage is in the surplus funding to Haredi educational institutions, whose budget might equal that of the universities. Meaning: The state will invest more in the "pseudo-Torah-student" draft evaders than it will invest in doctors, engineers, and scientists.Beyond the immediate blow to the pocket of us all (the Finance Ministry's assessment is that there will be no choice but to raise taxes to fund the new benefits), there is a certain blow here whose damage potential is difficult to estimate, to the future of the State of Israel, especially as far as things are concerned regarding the development of knowledge-intensive industries and the provision of services (for example: Fewer doctors).Another area of damage is the removal of Haredim from the workforce. Currently, about 50% of Haredi men work (a figure that is somewhat distorted, as some of them are employed in community services, mainly in the field of education, which are provided only to Haredim), but it is doubtful whether even this low percentage, relative to the general population, will be maintained under conditions that prioritize Torah students (again, we will repeat and emphasize: Even if they are only registered as such) over workers.Of course, in the case of removing Haredim from the workforce as well, the main damage is for the coming years, but the trend can be felt immediately: Fewer workers who support themselves are necessarily more people who depend on allowances funded by our money, public funds.An additional damage that the Finance Ministry warns against is the compounding of the reserve duty burden, again – not on the principle-based level (where the injustice cries out to the heavens), but on the economic level: Fewer recruits to the IDF (which is already in a "deficit" of about 12,000 combatants), means more reserve days for the pool of those who serve. Reserve days are more expensive than regular service days – and hence a budgetary burden that increases in alignment with the compounding of the mental and physical burden.Turning Haredim into enemiesWhat the economists and legal advisors will not write in formal language, we will say here: This law is insane and disgraceful, not only because of the spit launched by a government, most of whose members evaded service themselves (or sufficed with a symbolic service only), straight into the faces of those it sends to war.The law is insane and disgraceful also because of its economic implications, which will turn the State of Israel poorer and increase the economic burden on those who have no choice but to act like decent people: To wake up every morning and go out to their daily labor.Every time the debate on matters of religion and state ignites, especially in their security-educational-employment context, many tend to "criticize the critics" and accuse them of Haredi-hatred...Well, this time I can testify only about myself, although it is possible that I express the opinion of many: I do not hate the Haredi public, which I have already learned to know and understand that it is much more diverse than it appears at a brief glance from the outside, to secular eyes.What I do hate is the Haredi political wheeler-dealing, which harms the public it is supposed to represent twice over: Once when it dooms it to a life of neediness, to ensure it remains dependent on allowances and close to its table (as some of the Haredi Knesset members grow rich while parts of their flock flounder below the poverty line).The second time, when it channels towards brotherly hatred a public that is anxious for the safety of its children serving in the army, and upon their release looks on with aching eyes at how they part with an economic future (for example, from the chance to purchase an apartment of their own) – in the name of the duty by law(!) to allocate from their salaries to fund those who are funneled into evading the draft and work. On this, we must no longer remain silent.Follow us on Google