``We dont wait for Jews to come to us to celebrate Sukkot, we come to them,'' says Rabbi Zev Katz, an enthusiastic 28-year-old, from his traveling Sukkot-mobile.

Parked behind a bank building on Lincoln Road on a sunny morning, he invites people in and hands them the traditional lulav and etrog to wave while chanting the prayer. Then he shares a kosher cookie with them underneath the graceful palm leaves on the Sukkah.

``Our goal is, if the people are too busy or dont know they can fulfill the mitzvah of eating in a Sukkah and making the blessings, we will find them,'' Katz said.

And find them he does. On his quest, the traveling Sukkot-mobile visits shopping areas, schools and parks on a week-long pilgrimage between Oct. 4 and Oct. 8 to celebrate this holiday.

The waving of the four species (arbah minim) has deep and mystical meanings, he explains, symbolizing that all Jews are bound together as one people.

Katz has been driving the Sukkot-mobile for three years, since he left New York and finished his rabbinical training at the Lubavitch Headquarters in Crown Heights, the outreach director says.

``I always wanted to go back to where I grew up, to continue my Rabbi Outreach program. My father, Fischel Katz from Miami Beach, who was a part-time rabbi, was a great inspiration to me, and I wanted to continue his work,'' says the Miami-born native, who attended the Landau Yeshiva here.

LUNCHTIME DISCOVERY
Passersby out on their lunch hours often gawk at the parked vehicle topped off with palm leaves. But it turns quickly into a joyous experience.

Michelle Green, a homemaker from Miami Beach, waves the lulav Katz hands her as she repeats the prayer. ``I just love it. Hes great. You can always count on him to come around,'' she says with a satisfied grin.

Soon, a group of French tourists on their way to the beach for shopping stop to ask about the Sukkot-mobile. Henry Bozou and his wife, Nelly, visiting from Nice, France, said: ``We were pleasantly surprised to find him, and it was fun to join in. We dont have this in France.''

Two repeat attendees, Kerry Newman of FKS Realty Group, and Phil Shuster of Parwaresch & Shuster Law Firm, come out of their offices in the bank building on their lunch break to join the rabbi, an old friend.

Katz says: ``I want people to know that a rabbi is very approachable. Suddenly, they see this fun, fulfilling moment, and this rabbi is a cool guy, [who they tell me] that they can really talk to. I find that most Jews want to be closer to Judaism, but just dont have the time -- or maybe they never realized how great it feels to be involved.''

REACHING OUT
So he wants to reach them, as many as he can, by bringing the Sukkah to them.

``Every mitzvah you do is important,'' he explains, then adds, ``Jews cannot go on their own alone. If were to grow as a Jewish people, we have to be united as one. Unity is the most important thing, and all Jews are bound together as one people.

``If they dont know that they can fulfill a mitzvah by eating in a Sukkah and making the blessings on the lulav and etrog -- my job is to find them -- and go to them.

``Just come on board, I tell them, put on tefillin for five minutes, say the prayer -- and you’re performing a mitzvah.''