TEL AVIV — A website run by a Tel Aviv company called Pray Over IP sells phone cards that allow Christian and Jewish customers to record prayers and have them broadcast through speakers over Webcams at holy sites.

An estimated 1,500 people use the site each day to connect with places like the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, and the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. The site also offers streaming video from the company’s Webcams, giving users a real-time look at where the prayers are broadcast.

But the enterprise is not sitting well with some religious leaders. Some believe that the technology has no business near holy places. The company expects to generate as much as millions in revenue this year.

A company spokesperson said : "As you read it on the WSJ so did I. I’m not sure what the reporter aimed to, trying to interpret, I can say that he probably was thinking about the conflict between (a) legacy that stands in the past against the technology which runs to the future. As far as I know, we didn’t get any negative responds from ’religious leaders’ – (in fact) we faced the opposite."

The idea for the prayer broadcasting service belongs to Avshalom Neumann, who used to work in the technology industry and was also the person in charge on narrowing the ’Digital Gap’ in Israel.

About 18 month ago, while Avshalom was walking in the Holy City of Jerusalem, he noticed that tourists to the Wailing Wall are doing something very interesting, after they did finished to pray to G-D, they used their cell phone to call their relatives that were staying abroad.

He looked at the believers approaching the ancient stones with their cell phones in hand. This simple act enabled people from a distance to get their prayer presence in the holy place — Avshalom was amazed — it all seemed so simple. So simple he whispered — ’they are praying in Jerusalem in spite of the distance and the enormous cost of traveling.’

In that moment Avshalom decided to build the obvious bridge — between those praying at Israel’s Holy Sites and their loved ones far away. And he did.

A spokesperson for the POIP — Pray Over Internet Protocol — program commented : "Our vision is that anyone from anywhere will have the opportunity to voice its prayer in the holy site he/she chooses. We would like to see people using computers, cell-phones, PDAs and other equipment in a better value way…Do you know what content you can get these days on the Internet or on your cell-phone ? Our vision is to make the difference and give people an opportunity.

"Our mission is doing so, in spite of the difficulties.

The POIP network first was operated about six month ago and to date we are ’channeling’ many prayers daily to various sites in the Holy Land. Most of the prayers arrive from abroad, mainly from America.

ANS wanted to know how is it funded ?

"It was (and still being) founded by private fund. The first plan was to establish 4 sites network. To date we deployed on 8 sites and much more are on the new plan. The costs are higher then the first plan, since the traffic we service. We need more computer servers in our ’servers farm,’" the spokesperson said.

"We intend to enlarge our coverage and to offer more services. In the near future we will have to ask the public to take part in this effort and support us."

Check out the POIP website at : www.po-ip.com/english/main-e... and at : www.OnSitePrayer.org