It was a strange sensation. Though the site assured me my prayer had been received and that it would be delivered to the Wall that day, I immediately began doubting. What if the delivery person was out sick? Or feeling lazy? Would the messages just get dumped in a receptacle near the wall? Assuming they went the distance, were all the day's cybermessages stuffed into the same chink, or were they separated? Could God really decompress all this data? Are the prayers of doubters and spiritual eclectics ever heard?

In an effort to untangle these questions, I took advantage of another of the site's features, "Ask the Rabbi." ("Have you ever woken up in a cold sweat and wondered 'Why isn't Moses mentioned in the Hagadah?' " the teaser deadpans. "Then 'Ask The Rabbi' is for you!") It promised an informed answer to all relevant queries in under a week. So I laid it on the line:

Dear Rabbi,
I confess that my belief system is pretty foggy to begin with. But I'm doing a magazine article on "spiritual pilgrimage," and I want to know: Are prayers sent to the Western Wall via the World Wide Web as good as prayers that you put there yourself? And how useful is the Internet for spiritual seeking? I don't get out much, unfortunately. Thank you.

I'm still waiting for a reply. As for my prayer, which focused on my parents, my sister, and some friends currently down on their luck, the act of creating it inspired me to get off my ass and connect with those people--either in person, on the phone, or, yes, online--to laugh and carp and conspire.

For the moment, I think, I have my answer.