God Gets a Second Line -- from Telecom Digest

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

[Originally posted on the Fidonet FCC conference]


* Original Area: FCC
* Original From: Don Kimberlin (1:250/701)
* Original To  : All (1:250/730)


Recent news contains yet another way telephone companies have found to
make money:


     HEAVENLY HOT LINE GETTING SECOND NUMBER. "BEST-OF-BOOK"
             By: Arieh O'Sullivan, Associated Press


        JERUSALEM - Faxing notes to God has been such a hit that the
Israeli phone company has opened another line to the divine and plans
to publish a book of the best prayers and messages.


        In January, the national phone company, Bezek, decided to make
a business of the hundreds of notes stuffed each day into the crannies
of Jerusalem's Wailing Wall.


        It opened a fax line to receive the messages, which are copied
and sent by messenger to the wall, Jerusalem's holiest shrine of
Judaism.


        On Tuesday, Bezek set up another line for those seeking divine
intervention but unable to get to the wall personally to plant a note.


        Author Joyce Shira Starr will use the best of the messages
from the new second line in a book she'll start writing next spring.


        But for those who want their innermost desires to remain
between them and God, the first line set up in January will continue
to be confidential.


        About 70 faxes are sent daily from around the world, mainly
originating in the United States and Europe.  While God presumably
understands any language, only faxes sent in English will be
considered for publication in Starr's forthcoming book.  Starr and
Bezek will share jointly in the profits from book sales.


<end quoted story>


        The number of the original (and still confidential) fax line
in Isreal is +972 2 612222, while the new line for publishable faxes
to the Wailing Wall is +972 2 235555.  Calls to both numbers are
chargeable to the orginating party at international telephone rates as
applicable to a call to Israel.