Mobile Centres
Chabad-Lubavitch has found a way to give a rare opportunity to the Jew who is unaware, to the Jew who never knew his origin or what it might mean to him, to practice Torah and Mitzvot in first-hand, personal experience.
The Mobile Chabad Center, commonly known as the Mitzvah Tank, is Chabad’s device in reaching the unreachable. In it, the visitor - who will have just come off the street, on his way home from work or on a local errand – can put on Tefilin, say the Shema and pick up some easy-read Jewish literature, all in the pleasant, relaxed environment of the Mitzvah Tank.
Another use of the Mobile Chabad Centre is in youth work. In districts that are popular to youth, where there might often be drug abuse and wild drinking, the Mitzvah Tank functions as an island of peace and normality. Teenagers come inside just to chat to the Rabbi, in order to gain another, more wholesome perspective, and (as if just by the way) sometimes to ask for real advice.
At the right season, a common sight in London is the Succah Mobile. This is exactly what it sounds like: a mobile Succah. Some are on back of a truck, others on a mere set of wheels, but their mission is the same: to give the Jewish man or woman the opportunity to eat inside a Succah and to shake the Lulav and Etrog, Mitzvot which may not have been practiced since childhood years, or indeed ever.
The Mobile Centre achieves something special. The meeting of a Jew with G‑d, somewhere on a busy highway. A Mitzva on the spot, for people on the go….