Playing on your phone can now be a mitzvah

What if doing a mitzvah could build a streak, earn a trophy, and even generate real money for tzedakah (charity)? That’s the idea behind Orah, a Jewish social lifestyle app. 

But the streaks and trophies are only part of it. At its heart, Orah was created to close the gap between feeling inspired by Judaism and knowing how to put that inspiration into practice, giving users guidance on performing mitzvot in their everyday lives. 

Yoni Abadi, a King David alum who now lives in the United Kingdom, got the idea for the app from his Jewish outreach with charity organisation Aish UK. He repeatedly encountered people who wanted to connect with their Judaism but were unsure how to do so. He realised that while the desire was there, what was often missing was an accessible way to turn it into action. 

His thought behind starting Orah was to meet people where they were, which happened to be on their phones, so he joined forces with another King David alum, Ben Grieve-Fitzell, as developer. 

“It’s quite ambitious, but we essentially want to go up against platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Social media is designed to keep people on the app and take advantage of their psychological vulnerabilities. We wanted to counter that by giving people something on their phones that isn’t designed simply to keep them there, but to lead to a meaningful outcome,” says Abadi. 

Orah is designed to make practising Judaism simple and accessible, guiding users how to perform different mitzvot and briefly explaining their significance, with Hebrew, English translations, and transliterations where needed. Each completed mitzvah earns donor-funded money that users can allocate to a charity of their choice through their Orah wallet. 

To encourage continued engagement, the app uses Duolingo-style streaks and trophies for consistently performing mitzvot. It also has a social element similar to Instagram, allowing users to follow one another, share photos and reflections about the mitzvot they perform, comment on posts, and give a “shkoyach” instead of a “like”. 

In the month in which the app has been active, Orah has reached more than a thousand active users, with about 30 000 mitzvot completed globally. 

“People are telling me that, for the first time, they actually feel able to practise their Judaism, and that it has changed their whole morning routine,” says Abadi. 

“For me, a big moment came when I was on Instagram for work and found myself getting sucked into scrolling for longer than I wanted to. I closed it and opened Orah, and it felt like a breath of fresh air. It’s such a positive space. You’re doing good, other people are doing good, and you’re supporting and celebrating that. It’s such a contrast.” 

When Abadi was in South Africa earlier this year, he showed someone the app, and they suggested getting in touch with the Division of Informal Jewish Education at King David Schools, and they have now entered into a partnership. 

“For me, being able to have an impact on the school I attended is incredibly meaningful. They really liked the idea and moved quickly to get involved. We created a personalised version of Orah for King David, with its own incentives and a dedicated Explore page where pupils can find school announcements and Jewish inspiration,” he says. 

Abadi realises that the danger in gamifying mitzvot is that people will forget the meaning behind why they should do good. However, the whole purpose is to get people doing mitzvot and connecting to Judaism, and the game element can only help people become more engaged, he says. 

“The Talmud teaches that you should do a mitzvah even if it isn’t initially for the right reasons, because ultimately you will come to do it for the right reasons. There’s an element of that here, but ultimately, we’d rather have people doing mitzvot than spending that time on Instagram.” 

There are basic mitzvot that users start with: Modeh Ani, Tehillim, noticing a mezuzah, morning blessings, giving tzedakah, blessings on food, an act of kindness, and many more. The mitzvot getting the most traction include Modeh Ani in the morning, five minutes of personal prayer or meditation, daily wisdom, making a blessing over food, and one act of kindness. But also included are mitzvot connected to everyday life, such as looking after your health. 

“We have Shehecheyanu for when you buy a new item of clothing – you can take a picture of it and turn that everyday moment into a mitzvah. We also have things like wearing tefillin, giving charity, and performing acts of chesed [kindness],” he says.