Modern Orthodox is a working demonstration of my next-generation laser eruv system. An eruv (pronounced ey-roov) is a symbolic boundary erected around religious Jewish communities throughout the world. While an eruv is typically constructed with poles and wires, Modern Orthodox employs a combination of low-power lasers, wifi surveillance cameras and graffiti, as a way of designating sacred volumes of space in urban areas.

What is an Eruv?
An eruv is an ancient architectural construct that stems from the observation of the Sabbath, the sacred day of rest that includes a prohibition against certain kinds of work, including the carrying of objects outside of one's home, or private domain. The presence of an eruv allows some carrying on the Sabbath by symbolically converting the shared public space within its boundaries into the shared private space of a community. In this way, observant Jews can carry objects such as keys or prayer books while acting in accordance with sacred Talmudic principles.

My Next-Generation Laser Eruv System
Because the physical integrity of an eruv is essential to its symbolic function, a breach in any portion of it renders it useless, which is why the entire circumference of an eruv, usually miles in length, is customarily inspected prior to every Sabbath. My laser eruv, however, which relies on a continuous stream of photons rather than cords and wires, is not as susceptible to permanent breakage. A branch of a tree, for example, may impede the flow of photons but will not permanently damage the eruv apparatus. Additionally, surveillance cameras are used to monitor the laser eruv connections from a remote location, allowing eruv managers to identify obstructions more efficiently. The content of these video transmissions are displayed at Eyebeam as part of the installation of this work.

Crucifix NG Compatibility
Modern Orthodox is designed to work in conjunction with, or rather to absorb, the signals of other religious devices working within the boundary of the eruv. Crucifix NG, for example, which transmits the Christian Lord's Prayer at approximately the same bandwidth (about 900 Mhz), will to some extent disrupt the eruv transmission and appear as noise within the video signal. In this way, the presence of multiple religious devices will produce a mixed signal, as opposed to being allocated to separate uninterruptable channels.

Related work: Cemetery 2.0 | eRuv

by Elliott Malkin — at Eyebeam, June 29 - July 15, 2006

Special thanks to David Neff for engineering and photography.