10 Years Later: How the Tishrei Tent Became a Crown Heights Fixture

What began as a last-minute 100-foot tent that stood for just 10 days has grown into a nearly 300-foot Tishrei operation serving some 2,500 people every day. Ten years later, it is hard to imagine Tishrei at 770 without it.

The first Tishrei Tent was not exactly launched with a grand master plan.

It went up after Yom Kippur,, was just 100 feet long, had no air conditioning, and stayed up for roughly 10 days.

The goal was simple: 770 was packed, and many Crown Heights regulars no longer had a practical place to daven or learn there during Tishrei. So a tent was erected on the Eastern Parkway service lane to create additional space for the local community.

Then people actually used it.

A lot.

The next year, the tent grew to roughly 175 feet, went up before Rosh Hashanah, and air conditioning was added — one of the first lessons learned from year one. By its second year, it was already staying up through Hoshanah Rabbah and operating as a much more serious extension of 770.

That became the formula.

Every year, the tent got a little bigger — and every year, organizers discovered something else that apparently comes with operating a temporary shul for thousands of people.

More space meant more air conditioning. More people meant bigger generators. More minyanim meant more infrastructure.

And then there was the garbage.

As the crowds grew, organizers learned that running the tent also meant helping keep the area around 770 clean. Eventually, a professional cleaning crew was brought in for two eight-hour shifts every day.

The partnership with the NYPD also became a critical part of the operation. Closing the service lane, maintaining safety and coordinating a structure of this size on Eastern Parkway requires extensive cooperation each year — a relationship that has grown alongside the tent.

Meanwhile, the tent itself kept expanding.

By 2019, it had reached 200 feet and required four 15-ton air-conditioning units and a 34-foot generator.

By 2022, it had grown to 250 feet and was hosting around 60 minyanim a day.

A year later came another major change: the traditional tent was replaced by a temporary glass structure, along with a major upgrade in cooling and infrastructure.

Then the operation expanded again.

In 2024, a separate women’s tent was added for the first time, creating dedicated space for women and girls outside 770 as well.

Ten years after that first 100-foot experiment, the numbers are almost hard to compare.

Today, the Tishrei Tent stretches close to 300 feet. There is full air conditioning, a women’s tent, a full operations crew, and as many as 100 minyanim taking place each day.

Approximately 2,500 people use the tent daily.

For many Crown Heights residents, it has become something of a safe haven during the intensity of Tishrei — a place right at 770 where there is still room to sit, learn and daven.

And that may be the most remarkable part of the story.

There was no moment 10 years ago when anyone knew this was what the small tent would become.

It happened one year, one problem, and one improvement at a time.

Today, it is difficult to imagine where those 2,500 people would go without it.

The same is true of how it has been funded.

The Tishrei Tent was never built by one person. Each year, members of the community have stepped up — some with major gifts, others with $100, $180 or whatever they could give.

That collective support is what turned 100 feet and 10 days into what stands on Eastern Parkway today.

As the Tishrei Tent marks its 10th year, organizers are asking the community to do it again.

Every gift is a piece of the tent. Every donor is part of the story.

Be part of the 10th year — and help write the next chapter at TishreiTent.com.

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