Overview
- The Mitzvah Tank Parade, which rolled out Thursday from Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway, sent a large fleet into Manhattan and Brooklyn with COLlive carrying the launch live.
- Volunteers from yeshivas around the world staffed the RV-style outreach vehicles to share Pesach matzah, offer tefillin to men, and give Shabbos candles to households.
- Organizers set the parade for Thursday rather than the Sunday birthday date to reach dense weekday foot traffic that they say tops 3 million commuters.
- The effort is led by Rabbis Mordy Hirsch and Moishy Schmukler of the Mitzvah Tank Office and is supported by a $124,000 fundraising drive at TankParade.com to outfit and deploy the fleet.
- The Mitzvah Tanks trace back to 1974 after the Yom Kippur War, when the Rebbe called for a public, street-level campaign to bring mitzvot to Jews wherever they are.