The Last Dance: Reb Motti Illowitz

Reb Motti Illowitz

Based in Williamsburg

Badchan for 10 years

MY BIGGEST CHALLENGE ON THE JOB

The challenge is to avoid making even the slightest mistake. You have to be all there, extremely focused on getting it right. If you call someone Yidi instead of Yitzi, that’s already a mistake.

MY MOST UNUSUAL REQUEST

Someone hired me and paid me more than my regular price to do an entire mitzvah tantz in 20 minutes. The crowd didn’t believe it would actually happen, but I did as he asked — the two mechutanim and chassan and kallah danced within 20 minutes. Other times, we have had an entire mitzvah tantz completed in 45 minutes or an hour.

Once, someone called to hire me for a mitzvah tantz, but I was already booked. The date was on a Sunday, and the mechutan eventually decided to push the entire wedding forward by two hours, so that the mitzvah tantz would start at around 9:45. I told him that I would have to leave by 11:45 in order to get to the other hall at 12:00, and that was exactly what happened. Two in one night!

MY MOST EMOTIONAL MITZVAH TANTZ

I would say my sister’s wedding, when I sang about my own parents.