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A new way to pray--over IP

Leslie Katz Former Culture Editor
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
Credentials
  • Third place film critic, 2021 LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards
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Leslie Katz

Anyone who has visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem has heard the steady din of prayers and chants at the sacred Jewish site. These days, it turns out, some of the supplications that fill the air are coming not just from those standing at the wall, but from worshippers thousands of miles away.

An Israeli start-up called POIP (Pray Over Internet Protocol) is making it possible for people to broadcast their prayers through speakers embedded in Webcams, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company sells phone cards that let customers record personal prayers in any language, which are then transmitted in their own voice to the site of their choice via Internet phone and Webcams.

"We provide your soul unlimited access to holiness," reads the company's site. "Try it now!"

The company, founded in 2006, currently has equipment at eight Israeli Christian and Jewish holy sites, including the Western Wall, the Sea of Galilee and the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Visitors to POIP's site can also watch live video streams of the various sites.

"It's just $5 or $10, and you get eternal life," POIP Chairman Hanan Achsaf told the Journal. "With the lottery, you pay that amount, and what do you get? A piece of paper. This is much better value."