You are driving along the coastal road in Israel and look at your watch. In a quarter of an hour the sun will set and you have not yet said your afternoon Mincha prayers. The nearest town with a synagogue is more than a half hour away. What does an observant Jew do?

It is not an unfamiliar sight for motorists to see a car parked on the side of the road and its driver fervently shaking next to it as he prays under an open sky. For those who happen to be in one particular part of that road, this will no longer be a problem. A large sign on the side of the road announces that Mincha and Maariv services starting ten minutes before sunset are available at the Havatzelet Hasharon synagogue only a minutes drive away.

Who knows perhaps there will be as many such signs informing you how far away a minyan is as there are telling you how far away Tel Aviv is.

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