The Mitzvah Tank Parade Returns to NYC to Raise Awareness About Passover

This year's parade is led by rabbinical students who fled with their school from Dnipro, Ukraine

By Barbara Russo April 11, 2022

The largest pre-Passover Mitzvah Tank Parade will return to New York City on Tuesday, April 12, featuring 120 fully decked out and repurposed RVs. The occasion marks the 120th anniversary of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson's, birth.

The massive convoy will parade from Chabad World Headquarters in Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, at 11am, to Times Square before fanning out across the city in a display of Jewish pride.

The annual parade was canceled in 2020 and modified in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, it returns in full form. The parade will be led by rabbinical students who recently fled with their yeshiva from Dnipro, Ukraine. As Ukraine, the Rebbe’s country of birth, continues to be wracked by war, Chabad-Lubavitch’s Mitzvah Tank Organization will dispatch the Mitzvah Tanks across the state with a message of kindness and caring.

“As the world reels from images of war and suffering, these ‘Tanks for Goodness’ will share a very different message—the importance of bringing more goodness and kindness into the world,” said Rabbi Mordy Hirsch, parade director “As we prepare to celebrate Passover, we look ahead and hope for a time when we will see the fulfillment of the verse, ‘Nation will not lift sword against nation, and they will know no more war.’”

What to Expect at the Mitzvah Tank Parade

The tanks will be staffed by rabbinical Yeshiva students visiting from around the world. After leaving Eastern Parkway, the tanks will drop anchor at around 1:30pm at shopping centers, in front of office buildings and near tourist attractions around the city. A list of locations can be found here.

Once stationed at these locations, staff will encourage acts of goodness and kindness and give out a variety of Passover provisions, including:

Shmurah matzah
Passover guides
Shabbat and holiday candles

About the Rebbe

The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was born in April 1902 in Nikolaev (Mykolaiv), Ukraine. He is credited with creating a Jewish renaissance after the Holocaust. Under the Rebbe’s leadership, Chabad-Lubavitch grew and has more than 3,500 educational, religious and social service institutions across the United States and the world. The Rebbe received the Congressional Gold Medal and has an American national day, Education and Sharing Day, proclaimed in his honor.

What You Need to Know About Visiting the Mitzvah Tank Parade

What is the route of the Mitzvah Tank Parade?

The parade kicks off at Chabad World Headquarters, 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, at 11am. The parade will head up Sixth Avenue in Manhattan until 59 Street and down Fifth Avenue until 42 Street. The parade will have a police escort.