AN ISRAELI mobile phone company has brought out a handset to cater for the one-million-strong ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in an attempt to boost business.

The “kosher” phone carries a stamp signifying its approval by rabbinical authorities, who will recommend haredi community members to take out contracts with MIRS Communication.

The Motorola handsets have been modified to disable internet access, SMS text services and video and voice-mail applications.

Growing concern that new-generation mobile phones could threaten the conservative, ultra-Orthodox values and way of life, particularly among the young, led to a rabbinical committee being formed to examine the issue.

Rabbis had already issued edicts that led to costly bans on advertising mobile services in newspapers read by ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, characterised by the black garb worn by their ancestors in Eastern Europe 200 years ago.

Rabbis say that they are not against technology as a matter of course. But they fear that the latest feature-packed telephones coming to the market will provide the opportunity to access corrupting influences. Television is banned from homes in ultra-Orthodox communities because of the likelihood that images of women — worse, scantily clad women — could be viewed. Even radio is frowned upon. Newspapers circulating in the community are mostly free of images, save for the occasional rabbi.

The rabbinical committee that examined the mobile phone issue passed a list of its demands to many mobile phone operators in Israel but only MIRS was willing to attempt to cater to the niche.

It expects the phone to add up to 100,000 users to its 300,000-strong subscriber base, charging extra-low prices for those calling within the network and relatively high tariffs to those calling outside.

The company and the rabbis hope that the skewed tariff structure will encourage ultra-Orthodox Jews to use only the MIRS handsets, while discouraging members of the haredi community from calling those without the “kosher” phones.

Leading rabbis, who hold great sway over the community, have already pledged to support the deal with MIRS and use their influence to persuade mobile phone users to buy the handsets.

Religious Jews are familiar with rabbinical diktats that restrict their actions, especially on the Sabbath when many forms of work are forbidden.

The completion of an electrical circuit is considered “building” and thus disallowed, prompting many ingenious measures to allow Jews to use devices on the Sabbath. Shabbat lifts, for example, come unbidden and halt at every floor, so that the users do not have to press any buttons.

NEVER ON THE SABBATH

Some ultra-Orthodox rabbis forbid television and the internet as corrupting influences

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