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Elizabeth Taurasi

All Aboard the Matzo Bus

While I usually try to steer clear of any bus-related news, I just couldn't pass up the chance to get your feedback on this most unusual invention!

When police responded to an early-morning report of smoke in a New York neighborhood, I doubt they expected to uncover this tasty gadget: a school bus converted into a supersized oven for baking Passover matzos.

To create his backyard oven-in-a-bus invention (check out the picture!), Rabbi Aaron Winternitz removed all of the seats from the old red-and-white school bus to transform the entire vehicle into an oven, complete with smokestack, exhaust fans and working fire. The fire was fueled by gas from lines extending from Winternitz's house. The back door of the bus, formerly the emergency exit, served as the oven door.

Winternitz has made the thin, crisp matzo bread for his 50-member congregation in his bus for the past three Passovers and was hoping to carry on the tradition for this year's upcoming holiday. No such luck — while a building inspector called this oversized gadget "very creative," it isn't nearly up to code.

Alright my fellow Gadget Freaks, we've got 50 hungry mouths to feed! Any ideas for what Winternitz could do to make his oven-in-a-bus less of a fire hazard? And who out there has a tasty invention to top this one? Let me know! Now off to lunch - this Gadgeteer is getting hungry!