Don’t be alarmed when seeing a convoy of 50 repurposed RVs criss-crossing around NYC starting tomorrow at 10am: the vehicles parading throughout the five boroughs will be helping folks celebrate Passover—an annual tradition that has been put on by Chabad-Lubavitch since 1974.
The mitzah tanks, as the vehicles are known as, are commonly used as a way to promote Jewish customs and traditons.
Although New Yorkers are wont to see them (and hear them: they tend to play Jewish music really loudly) throughout the year, tomorrow’s parade is directly related to the upcoming holiday.
Specifically, tomorrow only, the vehicles will be stationed at various locations where volunteers will give out free matzahs while encouraging passerby to perform mitzvot. Those interested could also hop on board to browse through the library of Jewish literature on premise or ask questions about the holiday or Judaism in general to the volunteers.
“Mitzvahs are good deeds which illuminate the world,” said Rabbi Mordy Hirsch, director of the Mitzvah Tank organization and the coordinator of the parade, in an official statement. “Tanks are generally tools of war. We’re using them to spread good deeds, kindness and Jewish awareness.”
Clearly, the program is working: this year marks the parade’s 50th anniversary, a project that first kicked off to “spiritually uplift Jews in the wake of the Yom Kippur War,” according to an official press release.
The vehicles will be at President Street and Kingston Avenue, in Brooklyn, at 10am tomorrow, Thursday, April 18. By 11:15am, you’ll find them at Grand Army Plaza near Prospect Park. Pending traffic patterns, the convoy will then be stationed at Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan by 12:30pm.
