Superstition and science unite to produce the Jewberry

WHEN the latest in mobile phone technology is pressed into service to further the ends of religion, one can only despair for the future of humankind.

The latest “breakthrough”  – aimed at serving the needs of devout Orthodox Jews who find it imperative to pray three times a day to a deity, who, over the ages, has proved either profoundly deaf or entirely non-existent – is the Jewberry.

According to this report, it’s a software program for BlackBerry personal organisers that costs $30 and downloads daily prayers to the handsets.

The brainchild of two entrepreneurs who once attended New York’s Yeshiva University, the program obviates the need to lug a prayer book around.

Says co-creator Jonathan Bennett, of Cedarhurst, Long Island:

Throughout the day, Jews gather in office-building stairwells and conference rooms to pray, and while sometimes you might not remember your prayer book, no one goes anywhere without their BlackBerry.

Among JewBerry users is the president of Yeshiva University, Richard Joel.

I love it, because now I can not only look how the market is doing, but I can also say my evening prayers.

He added:

At the heart of what Yeshiva is about is the notion that it’s not our technology that informs civilization; it’s our values.

The program is not linked to Research in Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry.

See our earlier report about “kosher” mobile phones here.