Of the 7.1 million people living in Israel, at least 800,000 citizens are ultra-orthodox Jewish. Though members of this community are, on average, poorer than the average Israeli, their large presence is having an impact on the country's retailers, who are seeking to market products that meet the strict laws governing nearly every aspect of life for the stringent religious branch.

The New York Times has a writeup of some of the ways that the modern Israeli marketplace is catering to its ultra-orthodox community, including clothing, food items, and even toilet paper. But the piece opens with a profile of the "kosher phone."

Created specifically for ultra-orthodox users, the phone flashes the seal of a rabbinate council on start-up. The handset can't send or receive text messages, take pictures, or connect to the Internet. It also blocks more than 10,000 phone-sex numbers. Users can call fellow kosher phones at a discounted rate of 2 cents a minute (compared to the standard 9.5 cents), but if they place calls on Shabbat, it'll run them a whopping $2.44 a minute--a price which, here in the States, can get you a minute or so with one of those sex numbers. Or so I hear.

[Photo source: The New York Times.]