A

s the chasunah season rolls on, night after night sees flying circles of genuine Jewish joy accompanied by great music. Michoel Schnitzler, a wedding entertainer with decades of experience, says he doesn’t need a pre-wedding meeting with the parents or instructions from the chassan’s friends to get those feet airborne. He just has to look around to strike the perfect note.

“When I come to a chasunah, I look around and see who the crowd is. Balabatish? Yeshivish? Even if they all look chassidish, I can read it perfectly. Are they old-time chassidish? Geshmaltzigge chassidim? Semi-chassidish? Modern chassidish? And if the mechutan comes over with instructions, I say, ‘Don’t kill it, I know, I know.’ But there was one time I was wrong. The family had a completely different taste in music than what I assumed. I must have gotten it right after the mechutan gave me his instructions, though, because he later became my own mechutan too.”

 (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 712)