The Afterlife of an Optical Device, or Making the Lantern Kosher

Abstract

Exploring media archaeology’s potential to trouble established notions regarding old and new media technologies, this chapter concerns a contemporary optical device dubbed Makrentz’ik – a toy magic lantern marketed for Jewish ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) children in Israel. In the context of the Haredi community’s strict observance of Jewish laws and rejection of modern values, the outmoded technology of the lantern acquires a different cultural and ideological significance than typically assumed in media historiography. The Makrentz’ik, therefore, embodies media archaeology’s preoccupations with rethinking temporalities – being at once an obsolete medium and, in its cultural context, a technological novelty. This raises new questions about how media cultures vary not only across distinct geographical locations and historical periods, but also on a regional and communal basis.