From Toronto to Texas: Why Shloime Zionce is driving his Cybertruck cross-continent on a mitzvah mission

Last week, if you were in Toronto, you may have spotted a striking yellow-and-black Tesla Cybertruck cruising around the city. Behind the wheel was Shloime Zionce, the Toronto-raised White House correspondent for Ami Magazine and YouTube creator. He grew up in Toronto’s Orthodox Jewish community before moving to the U.S. to attend yeshiva. While visiting his parents and extended family in his native city, Zionce launched his cross-continent mitzvah mission at a July 21 event outside the Promenade Shopping Centre in Thornhill. He will take the self-driving Cybertruck on the road, on his two-year quest to drive through all 50 U.S. states. He’s encouraging Jewish pride and mitzvot in response to the surge of antisemitism since Oct. 7. Zionce is paying for the project himself to honour his late friend, Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan, who was kidnapped and murdered by Islamic terrorists in the United Arab Emirates in 2024. The eye-catching design is intentional. “Overall we need eyeballs on this thing because if you want to connect with Jews, the Jews have to notice you and see that you’re there. And this vehicle is pretty hard to to go unnoticed.” On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner gets a private tour including climbing aboard for a ride through Zionce’s grandmother’s Thornhill neighbourhood, as he explains the mission behind one of the most unusual Jewish outreach vehicles on the road. Related links: Read more about slain Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan from his friend Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, a Montrealer who is Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in the UAE, in The CJN from 2024 . Learn more about Shloime Zionce's new Cybertruck mitzvah campaign to bring Jewish pride and yiddishkeit to all 50 states and Canada in honour of his slain friend, Rabbi Zvi Kogan, killed by terrorists in 2024 in the UAE, at Mitzvahtruck.com Watch Shloime Zionce's reporting from the White House and his travel stories, on YouTube Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) https://thecjn.ca/north