Privacy Policy

The translation is provided for convenience only. The Hebrew version is the binding text, and content sourced from the database (town names, services, and benefits) is displayed in Hebrew.

Last updated: August 28, 2026. This policy was written in accordance with the Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981, including Amendment No. 13, which comes into effect in August 2025.

עולי הרגלים לרווחת עולי הרגל בע"מ (חברה לתועלת הציבור) (hereinafter "we") operates the website olimlaregel.com and the "Olei HaRegalim" WhatsApp service. This document explains what information is collected about you, for what purpose, how long it is kept, who it is shared with — and how you can delete it.

Our Principle

We collect the absolute minimum necessary to operate the service. We do not sell information, we do not trade it, and we do not pass it on to advertisers. There are no social media pixels on the site, no Google Analytics, and no advertising networks — usage measurement is done solely on our server.

What Information is Collected

Information You Provide Voluntarily

Registration for the Olei HaRegalim census: First and last name, town, number of participants in the pilgrimage, and phone number.
Contact form: Name, phone number, and the content of your inquiry.
Volunteer form: Name, phone number, town, the areas of interest you selected, and any free text you wrote.
Registration for updates: Email address, if provided.
WhatsApp service: Your WhatsApp number, your display name as it appears on WhatsApp, and the content of the messages you exchanged with the service.
Information contributions to Jerusalem services: If you volunteered to contribute information to the services database — the name of the place, operating hours, GPS location, and photos you knowingly submitted. This content is intended for public publication on the website after review.

Automatically collected information

Session cookie: A random identifier that allows saving the form state between pages. This is an essential cookie — the website will not function without it. It is not used for advertising tracking.
Referral cookie: If you arrived via a personal invitation link, the invitation code is saved to credit your registration to the person who invited you.
IP address hash: We do not save your IP address. Only a one-way salted hash is saved, for the purpose of identifying duplicate registrations and spam attempts. The address cannot be reconstructed from it.
Usage events: Which pages were viewed and which buttons were clicked, linked to the session identifier. Used solely to improve the website.
Test version assignment: Which version of the page copy you viewed (A/B testing).
Personal link for sharing the bot: a personal link is created for everyone who messages the bot. When someone enters the bot through such a link, we count one arrival for the link's owner — and for that purpose we store a one-way hash of the newcomer's number, never the number itself. This means we know how many people came through each sharer, and we do not — and cannot — know who they are. The sharer sees only a number as well.

How we use your information

To register you for the census and display cumulative counters — at the town and community level only, never at the identifiable individual level, unless you explicitly approved displaying your name.
To verify that registrations are genuine and prevent duplicate or malicious registrations.
To get back to you regarding an inquiry you initiated.
To send practical updates ahead of the festival — only if you checked the consent box.
To answer your questions on the WhatsApp service and improve the database.
To improve the website and understand which parts of it are working.
To identify who spreads the bot and to thank them: we use the arrival counts to find the people who actually help spread the bot, and to invite them — only if they have given prior consent to be contacted — to take part in the association's work. Anyone who prefers not to appear on the sharers' board or receive such invitations can message the bot «הסר מהדירוג» at any time and keep using the bot as usual. For full deletion — «הסר», which erases both the personal link and every spread attribution, in both directions.

Legal basis

All information is provided with your consent. Providing these details is not a legal obligation — but without them, we will not be able to register you or get back to you. Consent to receive updates is separate, voluntary, and can be revoked at any time without affecting the rest of the service.

Who the information is shared with

We do not transfer personal information to third parties, except for the infrastructure providers necessary to operate the service:

Meta Platforms (WhatsApp Business Cloud API): To send and receive WhatsApp messages. The WhatsApp number and message content are transferred. They are subject to Meta's privacy policy.
Artificial intelligence provider (Google Gemini): Used to route questions in the database. Only the question text and the service types catalog are sent to it — no phone number, no name, and no other personal identifier. The query log on our end is saved with a hash of the WhatsApp number, not the number itself.
Hosting server: The website and database are hosted on a dedicated server under our control.

In addition, we will transfer information if required to do so by a court order or by law.

How long the information is kept

Registration details: As long as the registration is active, and until you request deletion.
Inquiries and volunteering requests: Up to two years after resolution.
WhatsApp messages: As long as the service is active for you, and until a deletion request.
Usage events and IP hashes: Statistical information that does not identify you personally, and is retained for trend analysis.

Your Rights

Under the Protection of Privacy Law, you are entitled to:

Review your information (Section 13 of the Law).
Request its correction if it is incorrect, incomplete, or outdated (Section 14 of the Law).
Request its deletion.
Remove yourself from the updates list at any time and unconditionally.

For immediate and independent exercise of these rights: the removal and deletion page — enter the phone number you registered with and select removal from updates or full deletion. Alternatively, reply "Remove" to any WhatsApp message you receive from us, or contact us via the contact form. We will process your request within 30 days.

Direct Mailing

Update messages are sent only to those who have given explicit consent, in accordance with Section 30A of the Communications (Telecommunications and Broadcasting) Law. Every message includes a simple way to unsubscribe, and the removal takes effect immediately.

Information Security

We take reasonable measures to protect the information: encrypted traffic (HTTPS), access to the management interface restricted to authorized personnel only with hashed passwords and role-based permissions, full documentation of admin actions in an audit log, and storing hashes instead of raw data wherever possible (IP addresses, WhatsApp identifiers in the AI logs). However, no system is completely immune, and we cannot guarantee absolute protection.

Minors

The service is intended for adults. Family registration is done by a parent or guardian. We do not knowingly collect information from minors under the age of 18 without parental consent. If such information is discovered — please contact us and it will be deleted.

Changes to the Policy

We will update this document from time to time. The date of the last update appears at the top of the page. Any material change will be published on the website.

Contacting Us About Privacy

עולי הרגלים לרווחת עולי הרגל בע"מ (חברה לתועלת הציבור)

Privacy Inquiry