Linguistic Agents, a Jerusalem-based startup in the field of Natural Language Understanding, announced the launch of a new service, InfoJew. The SMS service will allow Jews to use their cell phones to find Shuls, kosher restaurants, mikvehs as well as Z’manim for Tefillos, Shabbos and Yomim Tovim anywhere in the world.

“A member of our team recently found himself in Prague during his return journey from attending the 3GSM conference and had to SMS his wife, asking her to search online for the nearest kosher restaurant,” explained Simcha Margaliot, senior vice President and COO of Linguistic Agents.

“It was then that we realized the enormous opportunity our technology holds in aiding traveling Jews. We’ve all found ourselves in a strange town looking for a place to grab a kosher meal, or wondering about the local time for Shabbat candle lighting.”

InfoJew’s services will be launched in March and will initially include information on all kosher restaurants, synagogues and mikvehs found in every major travel destination in Europe. The times of services, Shabbas and holidays, as well as information such as data on local rabbis, Jewish tourist sites will be added at a later stage, and will have coverage in Israel as well as in the rest of the world.

II