New Cellphone Services Put God on the Line
By SARMAD ALIMarch 27, 2006

In late 2004, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi asked Abrasha Burstyn, the chief executive of a small Israeli cellphone company, for a phone that could put the secular world on hold.

Cellphone companies, at the time, had started to load their products with entertainment features, and the rabbi wanted none of it. He was in search of a phone without Internet capabilities or text messaging. He didn't want cameras, music downloading, or anything else that could "distract" the pious. He was looking for a device that could make and receive calls. Period.

Mr. Burstyn, 58 years old, soon found that many other Jews were hunting for similar, simpler cellphones. "They are listening to the rabbis," Mr. Burstyn says. Last March his company, MIRS Communications Ltd., rolled out its first batch of "kosher" phones stripped down of all features but basic voice service. The company's phones, which are available only in Israel, have attracted 20,000 subscribers. the rest