Mitzvah Mobile Circles Kentucky in Search of Small Town Jews

A "Mitzvah Mobile" made the rounds through Kentucky's small towns in what the Chabad-Lubavitch Center of Louisville called a Week of Jewish Unity. The specially-outfitted recreational vehicle, stocked with everything necessary to support its two-man crew of rabbinical students and their mission of reaching out to the Bluegrass State's Jews, visited more than 30 towns and made a special outing to Jewish troops stationed at Fort Knox.

Rabbis Chaim Litvin and Avrohom Gniwisch invited people they met to step aboard the traveling synagogue-of-sorts where they blew the shofar in preparation for the High Holidays and gave over some words about the upcoming holidays.

"Emphasis is being placed on the unaffiliated Jews that are living in small communities, who may not have all of the conveniences available in larger cities," reported Rabbi Avrohom Litvin, father of Chaim Litvin and co-director of the Louisville center that sponsored the outing.

The rabbinical students' journey began Sept. 3 with a visit to the U.S. Army base at Fort Knox, where soldiers came aboard and left with information about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In some cases, the Louisville-native and his Canadian counterpart made more than one stop in towns where they learned there were more Jewish residents than originally thought.

The week's campaign was scheduled to end on Sept. 10.