“Isaiah 53” Crown Heights’s Own Graffiti Artist

by CrownHeights.info

On signs, walls, ATMs, mailboxes, and trucks, Crown Heights’s own graffiti artist, nicknamed “Isaiah 53” has been tagging the scenes of the community with his signature work, the scrawled words “Isaiah 53”. So who is this mysterious man?

Isaiah 53, the graffiti used, refers to a series of passages from Neviim commonly used by people in reference to Mashiach, and in this case, commonly used by Christians looking to proselytize to the Jewish community. So if you decided to stereotype and imagine that this unknown graffiti artist is a middle-aged to elderly Caucasian male, you would be right.

After “Isaiah 53” struck again and vandalized Raskin’s fish van commonly parked on Kingston Ave, one Crown Heights resident had had enough and decided to find out who was responsible once and for all. Combing through video footage from local businesses, he finally got a glimpse of this man on camera.

On a Shabbos morning 6/3/2023, at 8:00am according to the videos time stamp, a Caucasian man dressed in blue pants, a plaid shirt, and wearing a black hat with his face covered by a surgical mask approached Raskin’s Fish vans and did the deed, vandalizing the vehicles and spreading his already prolific graffiti even further.

Thankfully, the mystery man is now less of a mystery, with his photo available and the strong clue found on the purple bag he is carrying.

5 Comments

  • Asking for a friend

    Is this much worse then all the stickers on the back of the crossing lights all over Brooklyn.

    • Yungerman

      Neither one is oifen hamiskabel, but at least the stickers are factual. (But still not a valid excuse for graffiti.)

  • CR

    Meh. Big deal. That perek of Yeshayahu is dealing with the flip side of Am Yisrael being “Mamleches kohanim v’goi kadosh.” Numerous meforashim in any mikraos gedolos make that clear. If a certain non-Jewish belief system wants to come up with its own interpretation of the passage that’s their business, not ours.

    • AH

      Your comment reeks of אני את נפשי הצלתי. What about the many less-knowledgeable Jews who are taken in by that false interpretation?