Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

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.

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

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.