Lubavitch 'Great Parade' Coming to Eastern Parkway Sunday

By C. Zawadi Morris

Benny Friedman, Uncle Moishy and the Yeshiva Boys Choir are just three of many popular favorites scheduled to perform at this year's "Great Parade"-- A celebration of the holiday Lag B'omer and New York's largest Jewish children's event, taking place Sunday, April 28, in Crown Heights.

The last Great Parade was held in 2011 and attracted 15,000 people. This year's parade is expected to bring out as many as twice that number. 

And, according to the parade's handlers, it will be as colorful as ever: Military and school marching bands, a Jewish motorcycle club, Yeshiva students doubling up as acrobats and beautifully designed giant floats atop flat-bed trucks will follow more than one hundred schools, a fair with rides, games and a petting zoo.

Rabbi Shimon Hecht, the director of the parade, sees the festivities as being about broader ideas: “The parade is really about unity and community, and it’s about taking pride in a unique identity and heritage,” he said, “and of course, having a lot of fun."

Although there aren’t many other Jewish festivals celebrated with parades, this particular holiday, Lag B'Omer, began with the story of two leading Jewish sages of the time: Rabbi Akiva, and his disciple Rabbi Shimon bar Yocha, known as the grandfather of Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah.  

Rabbi Shimon's extraordinary life and legacy is celebrated on Lag B'omer, the day of his passing. Lag B'omer also marked the end of a plague that had been attributed to an intolerance for Rabbis' students. Hence, Lag B’Omer became a day dedicated to the promotion of unity and love of the fellow man celebrated through day-long festivities to strengthen these ideals.

In time, scores of synagogues, Hebrew day schools, and public school contingents from the tri-state area began to converge on Eastern Parkway every year - or at least every year Lag B’Omer falls on Sunday, so the public school kids could make it.
Rabbi JJ Hecht, the late director of The National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE), a Chabad-affiliate, assumed responsibility for running the parade and today his son continues that tradition. 


WHAT: The Great Parade to celebrate Lag B’Omer

WHEN: Sunday, April 28, 2013; Seating begins 9:30am and Parade kicks off at 10:00am; Rides will be open from 1:00pm-6:00pm

WHERE: Eastern Parkway between Brooklyn and Albany Avenues

Click here to watch The Great Parade Promo Video. For more information visit their website.