NYC Mitzvah Tanks Shoot Up Twitter

NYC Mitzvah Tanks Shoot Up Twitter

Friday, March 26, 2010

By Chanie Kaminker

A parade of 60 “Mitzvah Tanks” – Jewish-themed mobile homes alsocommonly known as “Mitzvah Mobiles”– apparently generated quite a bit of attention Thursday noon as the vehicles meandered their way through the streets of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx. The phrase “Mitzvah Tanks” hit No. 2 on Twitter’s list of trending topics for New York City.

Dispatched in honor of the 108th anniversary of the birth of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, the Mitzvah Tanks’ mission was to raise awareness of the upcoming Passover holiday – it begins Monday night, March 29 – and urge people to recommit themselves to acts of goodness and kindness. Alongside the parade’s Twitter response, the word “Passover” also made it to the site’s list of top 10 trending topics in the city.

“The Mitzvah Tank came to my office today to deliver hundreds of boxes of [shmura matzah],” tweeted Jason Leibowitz, referring to the special handmade unleavened bread that Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical students distributed from the mobile centers. “Only in New York.”

“Omg!” chirped Micah Jesse, a native of Georgia. “Have you guys seen this Mitzvah Tank riding around the city blasting Hebrew music? Amazing!”

Even the popularity of the topic generated its own tweets.

Someone using the Twitter handle of Divided Stef was “very pleased to see that Mitzvah Tank is a trend in the NYC twitter world. If you have never experienced one, you really, really should.”

Mitzvah Tanks Take Manhattan

NEW YORK (March 26) -- On Aug. 26, 1944, French tanks rolled down the Champs-Elysées in Paris, celebrating liberation from the Nazis. On June 5, 1989, tanks driving through Beijing were stopped by a lone dissident standing in their path. And Thursday morning, Mitzvah Tanks rolled across a bridge into Manhattan, blasting Hebrew music and stupefying bystanders as they passed. The Mitzvah Tanks are not really tanks but rental RV's. They aren't driven by soldiers wielding guns but Hasidic Jews wielding matzo. They aren't on a battlefield of war but a "battlefield of life," promoting goodness and kindness, not death and destruction. In New York, the Mitzvah Tank Parade is an event put on every year before Passover by theChabad-Lubavitchers, a group of Orthodox Jews whose worldwide headquarters is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. The movement was founded 250 years ago in Lubavitch, Russia, and today has more than 3,300 institutions worldwide. The Chabad-Lubavitch center in India wasattacked by terrorists during the 2008 three-day siege in Mumbai, India, which left six members dead.

Dana Chivvis for AOL

A crowd watches the 60-tank parade pass through Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood, home to the Chabad-Lubavitcher headquarters. "Mitzvah" means good deed, and the parade is intended to promote kindness and the awareness of Passover.

continue reading at http://www.aolnews.com/article/mitzvah-tanks-take-manhattan/19413393

60 Jewish Motor Homes Stop NYC Traffic

60 Jewish Motor Homes Stop NYC Traffic

Thursday, March 25, 2010

By Levi Stein

A curious surprise awaited tourists and New Yorkers heading out for lunch this Thursday in the form of a parade of Jewish-themed motor homes.

Consisting of 60 “Mitzvah Mobiles” – essentially ChabadHouses on wheels – the rally was designed to raise awareness of the upcoming Passover holiday and urge citizens to recommit themselves to acts of goodness and kindness.

Organized by a group of young Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical students, the parade’s route through the New York City municipal area encouraged men, women and children from all walks of life to come aboard and learn about the eight-day holiday, and walk off with the special Passover staple known asshmura matzah.

The procession set out one day before the 108th anniversary of the birth of theRebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, who inspired the concept of the “Mitzvah Mobile” decades ago.

“The Rebbe taught that to dispel a great deal of darkness, all you need is a small candle,” explained Mendel Konikov, one of the parade’s organizers. “This is the power of a small good deed. One simple act of kindness can tilt the global scale to the side of good.”

Mitzvah Tank Parade 2009

Mitzvah Tanks Ride into NYC

Many New Yorkers and tourists heading out for lunch this Thursday, April 2, were greeted by an unexpected surprise. A parade, consisting of fifty-five motor homes, known as Mitzvah Tanks, marched through the streets of Manhattan, in celebration of the 107th birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

The Mitzvah Tanks traveled throughout the metropolitan area, inviting men, women and children to come on board to take part in the Rebbe's birthday celebration, by accepting upon themselves, a good deed birthday gift for the Rebbe.

for pictures visit our Facebook Album (Facebook Account not required) or visit the following URLs:

http://www.crownheights.info/index.php?itemid=17206

http://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=2976

How do you Measure the Magnitude of Impact from a Mitzvah Tank Parade?

So 59 ‘Mitzvah Tanks’ rolled through Manhattan and paralyzed traffic, albeit for a short few minutes at a time, and people got to see the ‘Winnebago’s’ with the big signs that said ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Mitzvah Tank’ and young energetic Yeshiva Students and children calling out ‘Happy Passover’, one may be tempted to dismissively ask ‘what’s the point?’ or ‘how many people even noticed it?’ all valid questions, for a pessimist, but the answer is quite surprising.

According to Google Trends one of today’s hottest trends is ‘mitzvah tank’ coming in at 55th from the top, and its peak was during the parade itself! Geographic data also showed that over 80% of the searches were made from New York.

Celebrate Purim on the Go!

Experience the Joy of Purim at the Chabad Mitzvah Tank

Megillah Readings every half hour from 10:00 am - 6:30 pm


Come aboard and enjoy a special Purim delicacy - Hamentaschen!

Also Available: Shalach Manot Purim Food Packages (one of the Mitzvahs of Purim).


Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Time: 10:00am - 6:30pm
Location: Mitzvah Tank - Corner of Park Ave & 53rd St.
City/Town: New York, NY

To arrange a Megillah Reading at your home or office please contact us.

This week's Photos

Mark from Australia puts on Tefillin Aboard the Mitzvah Tank (Last Friday)

Rabbi Yehuda Piamenta brings some Australian friends aboard the Tank

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Rabbi Adam Reiss in a discussion with a passerby

Steven Siskkind lays tefillin, to the Right his wife Melanie Sisskind-Englese

Bar Mitzvah!

The Talmud writes that ‘Karkaftah Deloh Monach Tefillin’ - One who has never donned Tefillin cannot enter Gan Eden – Heaven. This week we had the great honor of ‘laying’ Tefillin with many individuals, three of whom had never had the chance to put on Tefillin in their lives. Samuel from France even had an entire Bar Mitzvah ceremony with refreshments and L’chaim!

Kevin Tyson in a Heart-to-Heart talk with Rabbi Adam Reiss from Chabad on Washington Square

'Laying' Tefillin

The Tank parked on Park Ave. with a stand outside

Refreshments Available!

Discussion

Yechiel Kosofsky and Moshe D Cohen brave the cold to offer warmth and inspiration to Jewish Passerbys

Our Weekly Park Ave Stop Roundup - January 2, 2009

Unfortunately, due to the holiday season many of our regulars were unable to show.
However we were glad to greet Melanie Sisskind-Englesse who also and brought along her husband Steven for the very first time. We hope to be seeing more of you in the future Steven!
Kevin Tyson stopped by especially to see one of the crew’s alumni Rabbi Adam Reiss, of Chabad on Washington Square, who came today to visit his old friends. But although there were less regulars today than usual many people, tourists and business men alike stopped by on a whim and did a Mitzvah!