After the recent announcement that Waze will soon direct Israelis to mikvaos nationwide, the Ministry of Religious Services reports the next step is that Waze in Israel will point us to shuls when a search is conducted.

Officials now announce that when the mikvaos search goes active, Waze will assist in finding 130 local religious councils that provide marriage and burial services in addition to 1,000 mikvaos. Stage two will result in the app providing listings of thousands of shuls throughout Eretz Yisrael. While it appears to be a done deal, the final signatures are still required. The ministry appears willing to sign the 100,000 NIS annual fee for Waze to provide these services to users. If there are no last minute surprises, the mikve portion of the new system should be operational in about three months.

If one enters the word mikve in a search, Waze will show nearby mikvaos and operating hours as well as the name and phone number of the balanit. The search for a local religious council will also receive a response full of contact information. And of course, Waze will take us to the mikve, religious council or shul if we so desire.

The experts point out that the shul component if more complicated since there are tens of thousands of shuls in Israel but they are confident Waze can handle it.

Ministry officials are proud of the initiative, using Waze to better serve residents seeking religious services, with some commenting they may actually be adding a modicum of kedusha to the app.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)