THEY can’t send text messages, don’t have a camera, and can’t browse the web. And they won’t allow access to more than 10,000 phone numbers for dating services and sex hotlines. So, in effect, they’re as much fun as scabies and about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
But, hey, they do have a rabbinical stamp of approval on the front, so Orthodox Jews in Israel – who are forbidden to dicker about with sinful modern gadgets – are permitted to carry them.
This is a kosher Motorola
According to this BBC report, activities such as texting could lead to “immodest” behaviour among the Haredis.
For example, SMS capability could lead to the unwitting receipt of mass text messages publicising secular events. It could also be used as a method of illicit communication between male and female teenagers.
Or worse, between teenagers of the SAME sex.
All the major Israeli cellphone companies have accommodated the powerful Haredi community by providing kosher phones, and cheaper-than-normal packages which connect only with other Haredi numbers. But use your phone on the Sabbath, and call charges will be dramatically hiked.
As the companies have created distinct code prefixes to accompany the kosher phone plans, the phone numbers have quickly become a badge of religious observance.
Not only do some Haredi newspapers refuse to publish ads with non-kosher phone numbers, but parents are worried their children will be blacklisted by the shadchan, or matchmaker, if their numbers are not kosher.
Said one Haredi member, identified only a Avi:
What do you associate with the Haredi community? You wear black trousers, a white shirt and some sort of hat, but today the things that define you have changed.
He says he feels there is a sense that anyone who does not have a kosher phone “should be excluded from society”.
If you say you are associating yourself with us, please act according to our codes, otherwise do not call yourself Haredi and do not send your kids to our schools.
“Religious” mobiles are by no means a Jewish thing. There’s also the halal Muslim phone, as well a blingy creation for Buddhists.
According to Shyiam.com:
If ever there was a religion that needed a special cell phone, it’s Islam. The reason is that good Muslims pray facing Mecca five times a day. If you live in a small Muslim village, you’ll be notified as to when to pray by the “call to prayer,” which is broadcast loudly from the local mosque. Once inside, the whole building is oriented toward Mecca, so it’s easy to get it all right.
The Muslim mobile phone
But if you’re a Muslim in a big, foreign city, which way is Mecca? When are prayers? And where can I find a mosque? A good Muslim cell phone solves all that.
There are several Muslim cell phones available in various countries. The best I’ve found is made by a Singapore-based company called Ilkone Asia. Called the Ilkone I-800, the phone not only plays its own call to prayer at the appropriate times, but points toward Mecca and plays recorded prayers over the speakerphone.
The phone also comes with the full text of the Quran in both Arabic and English.
The Ilkone I-800 is available internationally, including in Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, North Africa, Singapore, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Bangladesh, Iran, Pakistan and India, and it will reportedly become available soon in Europe and in the US.
The site further claims that the best religious cell phone in the world is made for Buddhists.
The Buddhist phone
This highly modified and rare Nokia N70 is currently available only in China. Like other religious cell phones, the Buddhist phone has Buddhist ring tones, software and other trappings. What sets this phone apart from the pack is the sheer beauty and detail of the customization.
The phone is reportedly gold-plated and contains a piece of jade called the ‘Buddha video button’. When you press it, you can watch a Buddhist video. Another embedded jade piece lies on the back in the middle of the speaker and is just for decoration. The back has an embossed image of the Buddha. It plays classic Buddhist music and 12 sutras. The battery, stylus — even the little door that provides access to the removable media card — are all adorned in Chinese Buddhist style.
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