Artist’s Iconic ‘Mitzvah Bus’ Burns In Crown Heights
A colorful converted school bus used by a Brooklyn artist as both a studio and workplace burnt to the ground late Sunday night.
Lev Scheiber, the owner, said he was shocked to find his elaborately-decorated vehicle destroyed this morning.
“I went to the bus today and it was completely destroyed. My initial reaction was it was a targeted act,” Scheiber told the Forward, standing nearby the gutted vehicle. “It’s a very splashy bus. It’s clearly Jewish.”
The bus was decorated with distinctly Jewish iconography, like menorahs, and was parked near the intersection of Maple Street and Troy Ave., on the edge of Crown Heights. Scheiber has been parking there for the last two years, he said, and called the area safe.
Owner of Leviticus fine art bus examines burnt up remains of famed bus used in @BennysMusic videos and lag B’omer Parade pic.twitter.com/wPpwZHlkYY
— Yaacov Behrman (@ChabadLubavitch) June 26, 2017
The bus is a familiar sight at community festivals and was featured in the singer Benny Friedman’s music video “Ivri Anochi.” In a statement about the fire, Friedman called Scheiber’s bus a “mitzvah mobile” that added “joy and excitement” to people’s days.
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!