I simply don’t understand the finer points of Judaism, but I do find an upcoming iPhone 3GS application pertaining to the religion pretty interesting. It makes use of the new iPhone’s compass in order to orient praying Jews toward Jerusalem. Barry Schwartz, one of the creators of the app called iPhone Siddur with Mizrach Compass, explains it like this:
Basically, Mizrach means east and that is the direction most Jews pray, depending on your current location. In America, you point eastward because that is the direction of Jerusalem or the Kodesh Hakodashim. When you are in Israel, you might not pray eastward, depending on your current location. So this compass plots the longitude and latitude of the Kodesh Hakodashim (the most widely accepted opinion) and then based on your current long/lat and direction (based on the digital compass in the 3GS), we point you in that direction.
For navigation gadget-loving Jews, iPhone Siddur would make the perfect companion to the Mio Ma’amin! Schwartz also provides an overview video of the upcoming app which you can check out below.
