Hasidic Navy Aims to Outshine the Salvation Army This Holidy Season [VIDEO]

This time of year brings the inevitable and familiar bell clanging of the Salvation Army donation collectors, who happily smile at people making their way through the huge crowds of shopping people. Most Jews probably smile politely, maybe even make a small donation or two and then continue on with their life, but not comedian Dave Ahdoot.

Dave unexpectedly enlisted in the Hasidic Navy and walked the streets of New York looking for those Salvation Army bell ringers – all with his own Swiss cow bell.

“The Salvation Army bell ringers have become a part of our culture. Some people love them, some people don’t. Seeing them on the streets of NYC again this holiday season, I saw an opportunity to make a fun holiday video,” Dave Ahdoot told Heeb magazine, “I didn’t really know what I was going to shoot with them, until I was in my parents house and found an absurdly large bell. My mom collects antiques so, for some reason, she had an authentic antique cow bell from Switzerland. I thought it’d be funny if I just went up to the bell ringers with a louder bell, but that wasn’t enough. I needed to form an “organization” to raise money for.”

While the idea of having the Hasidic Navy and Salvation Army side by side collecting donations in holiday spirit may have been just for the laughs, Dave reveals that the Hasidic Navy actually did some good while garnering those laughs.

“In total I received about $30 in donations to the Hasidic Navy. In addition, small crowds would form around us, since I was being so loud and it must have been funny to see a “hasidic” person dancing with a Salvation Army person,” Dave explains, “The added attention actually lead to a bunch more donations to the Salvation Army. The guy in the video that I danced with a bunch wanted me to stay because that “was the most he’d made in the whole week”.”