Brooklyn, NY – You must have seen these two bochurim performing at a chasunah, sheva brachos or even a Purim party. Their performance is amazing, with all kinds of professional and acrobatic tricks you’ve never seen before. Perhaps their greatest feat is combining their serious learning seder with their ability to entertain crowds. Who are these boys? Where are they from? How did they learn to do these tricks? Brooklyn based HaChaim Magazine interviewed the identical twins and presents you with answers to all these questions.
[VIN News got the exclusive right to reprint the interview]
Yisroel and Yaakov are now 20 years old. They were born just four minutes apart in Mercer, France, on the 11th day of Chodesh Adar in 1989, and have since spent almost all their time together. They learned together in Yeshivah Tomchei Temimim in Brunar for four years, then in Bnei Brak for three years, and then spent one year learning in Yerushalayim. In Cheshvan they went to the main Chabad Headquarters to do “kevutza,” to learn the halachos and minhagim of Chabad.
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“We’ve always been together, in school and other places,” the twins said. “And it’s pretty hard for most people to tell us apart.” They don’t purposely dress alike, but they’ve always looked very much alike. Yisroel, the younger twin, is a lefty and Yaakov is a righty. Otherwise, the twins are very similar – and in more ways than just looks.
Below is a recent YouTube clip of the two entertaining Thousands of Satmarer chaseidim in Williamsburg Feb 9 2010, at the Sheva Brochos of the grandchild of the Satmar Rebbe, Rav Ahron Teitelbaum From Kiryas Joel.[Video by ShiaHD]
“Many times, I see something that reminds me of something else,” Yisroel says. “I’ll glance at Yaakov and see that he thought of the same thing, and we both laugh.”
Still, each is his own person. “We don’t have the same hobbies, and because we’re together so much, it can lead to some bickering between us. But we do pretty much everything together anyways. When we ordered advertising flyers, we went together to the graphics place and to the copy store. We share a room and even a closet. Instead of each of us having 12 outfits, we share 24. But we each have our own coat and hat.”
Do people mix them up? “Always.” The twins laugh. “People always confuse us, but most of the time we’re together, so the one of us that they need is there anyway!”
Even their names are almost the same – their parents named them both after Yaakov Avinu, who was also called Yisroel.
Below is a recent YouTube clip of the two entertaining Thousands of Satmarer chaseidim in Williamsburg Feb 9 2010, at the Sheva Brochos of the grandchild of the Satmar Rebbe, Rav Ahron Teitelbaum From Kiryas Joel.[Video by ShiaHD]
Does performing run in the family? “Not really,” the twins say. Their father, Yitzchak Daniel — a talmid chacham and yerei Shamayim — emigrated from Morocco to France, where he married their mother. “Our mother is a piano teacher, but she is quiet and modest.” Their father is an acupuncture therapist, also quiet. There are nine children in the family, four girls and five boys.
“We’re the only ones who have more of an extroverted personality,” the twins say. “If you tell our father, ‘Regards from your actors,’ he’ll laugh and shake his head, and know exactly who you mean.”
How did the boys start performing? “We were always a little wild,” they explain. “From about the age of three, we constantly did cartwheels and other acrobatic tricks. Slowly we started performing at weddings and simchas beis hashoeivahs. At the age of thirteen, we started learning how to juggle.”
When they were fourteen years old, another bochur suggested that they juggle clubs, so they tried that, too. But they never took lessons. “Whenever we had a school break, we’d try out new tricks and practice the old ones, just for the fun of it and to let out our energy. People often suggested to us, ‘Try this,’ or ‘Try that,’ and often we did. Our first performances were at family parties.”
How did they become such experts at what they do? “When people would criticize or compliment us, it drove us to improve, and to try new and different shtick. We don’t have a special body type, we never did any body-building and we don’t eat a special diet. We’re not especially flexible or bigger than other people. Maybe because we didn’t have the latest technological toys in our house, we spent a lot of time jumping, dancing and practicing in the yard outside of our house.”
What did they practice at such a young age?
“When I was younger,” Yisroel says, “I was fascinated by the unicycle. I always wanted one, but the price was 200 euro and I never had the money for it. My father said that if I’d learn to ride it, he would buy it for me.”
But Yisroel couldn’t wait. “We saw it in the store window one day, and that was it. We ran to borrow money and just bought it. But I was worried my father would be upset that we’d bought it without knowing how to use it!”
Since their father worked until late in the evening, Yisroel practiced all that afternoon on the new unicycle. “By the time he came home, I already knew the basics of how to use it.”
Yisroel is still somewhat better at riding the unicycle than Yaakov. “And I’m a little better at juggling,” Yaakov points out. “But we both know how to do both things fairly well.”
How did the twins become so famous?
“We started being misameiach at weddings for free,” the twins explain. “Our father very much believes in being misameiach other people, so he encouraged us to go. At a certain point, people began giving us small tips, but nothing very significant.”
Before the twins were well known, many people didn’t take them seriously and the young twins would often be pushed aside. “People would say things like, ‘Kids, don’t bother us here.’”
Nowadays, people take them a lot more seriously, to the point of worrying that the boys might hurt themselves. In fact, the audience worries a lot more than the twins worry. “We just do our act and we are as careful as we need to be.” As part of the act, one twin rides his bike over the other twin’s stomach. “Sometimes people get worried about that,” Yisroel admits. “But you know how that started? Once, we were playing around and practicing, and I accidentally rode my unicycle over my brother’s stomach.”
Was he okay? “He said, ‘Hey, that wasn’t bad!’ So we started practicing with that as part of our act.”
“I just harden my stomach muscles,” Yaakov explains. “There’s really no pain since it’s just a second or two. Before a performance, we don’t eat or drink much anyway.”
What else do they do?
“We juggle with real fire,” Yaakov says. “By the end of the act, the clubs are red-hot. We have to be careful to grab the club by its special handle. If it feels hot, I know I don’t have the handle in the right spot, and I just drop it immediately. The hairs on my hand have gotten burned, but nothing worse than that.”
What happens when the act doesn’t go as planned ?
“We just continue,” Yisroel explains. “During one performance, I was sitting on my brother’s shoulders and there was something oily that had spilled on the floor. He slipped, and we both fell head-first onto the floor. The crowd cried out, but we just continued. Whenever we try something and it doesn’t work out for whatever reason, we just continue – we almost never stop for anything.”
The entertainment the brothers provide — along with their lively personalities — is also a welcome reprieve to the hospital-bound. The boys are committed to spreading good cheer to patients through laughter and fun.
How long is a typical show?
“At a chasunah, we perform for only 10 to 15 minutes – people get frustrated otherwise. At a regular show, we perform for about an hour, with many different props. We have a huge bicycle, a seesaw, “big feet” as we walk on stilts, and all the props we use for juggling and our many other tricks.”
Do people recognize the boys without their “costumes” on?
The boys laugh. “Sometimes. Once, someone collecting money knocked on our door in Mercer. We opened the door and he got all excited. ‘Hey, I know these kids!’ he said. Sometimes people stop us on the street and exclaim, ‘Look, it’s the famous twins!’”
The twins’ regular clothing isn’t all that different from their costumes, of course. “When we first started, we didn’t have this ‘uniform’ that we wear today,” they explain. “We’d just tuck in our shirts and start! But our yarmulkes would fall off and our shirts would go up. We tried wearing suspenders, but they would constantly pop. So we bought vests and hats. When people commented how they enjoyed seeing our tzitzis flying, we attached long peyos to the hats to dance along.”
Still, their act is uncommon enough that the watchers wondered whether the boys were really Jewish, or if they were simply paid performers who were dressed up to look Jewish. “After we heard a few people saying, ‘Oh, they’re not really Jewish, they’re just dressed as Jews,’ we stopped coming to the chasunah dressed in our outfits. Now we come in our regular ‘yeshivah bochur’ clothing, and only put on our vests and hats in front of the guests, as we’re about to start performing.”
The boys are enjoying themselves now, but also planning for the future.
“We split the income from our acts and put some away for our future. We try to help our father out by sending some money home, too. Our mother encouraged us to learn to play musical instruments – she said that would probably be useful when we’re older.” Yaakov learned to play the clarinet and Yisroel the saxophone.
Though the boys recognize their tremendous talents as entertainers, they also take their avodas Hashem very seriously, poring over their learning with dedication.
“We learn all day in yeshivah and at night we perform. That doesn’t leave us time to learn with prfessional teachers or even learn more moves on our own. We simply don’t have time – during the day we learn, and at night we dance!”
And a freilichen Purim to all!
I watched them performing the satmar sheva bruches, they are amazing!
Is this the real Yankala Glick next to the video photographer?
the video was pretty dull. nothing unique about them from the video
they always mess up but il give them a A for effort
i’ve seen them at a couple of weddings and they were fantastic – a 15 minute show is excellent, just enough for entertaining and being misameach!!
I wish them lots of hatzlocho they are really amazing. saw them a few times have different shtick all the time. they are the best jewish frum performers
they performed at an auction in Crown Heights and they were amazing!
It’s (Yeshivas T.T.) Brunoy, not Brunar.
Good to see a happy story once and a while. My grandson is a juggler and trapeze artist. When he could climb the walls (literally) when he was 6 or 7 we knew we had to give him lessons. At first he resisted traditional (sit down) studies and reading, but the discipline of the athletic endeavors finally lapped over and now he his reading and writing. Lucky he does not take after me.
there are great. look at the speed. they are jugling together. i liked a few things, specialy the Push ups, it is amazing.
lol some ppl who can’t admit that it was a very entertaining act!
I though lubavitch minhag was to not have long peyos?
they do a really good show. and to one poster who says they mess up its part of the act.. they are amazaing
Very nice….But in my opinion this does not belong by a rebbishe simchah…especaiialy 2 Lubavitchers by a satmar simchah…even in belz they would not be acceptable
The best part of the videos are the little boys watching in the audience. They’re so clearly enchanted; it’s adorable.
I have no problem with people needing entertainment. We all need down time. I do have a problem with a giving the entertainment the status of a Tish or somehow the equivalent of engaging is some sort of Mitzvah D’oraysa, just because they’re jumping around to Jewish music.
they do a really good show. and to one poster who says they mess up its part of the act.. they are amazaing
Boys, you are fantastic. Keep up your great work.
you guys are great
Oh my god, these people need TV’s NOW!!!
Lets say it as it is Great Job!! Every person has a talent and this is theirs . Also they are only in their 20s meaning that they can still get even better.
Very impressive. It’s good to see that these guys not “boys” are using their talents to earn money. They have a lot of potential in them to become professional. I hope that they will chose to develop more advanced tricks and train with professional trainers. You can market yourself better if your programs are more complex and entertaining.
My son’s wedding is in Oholei Torah. I’d love them to entertain the guests! i guess I’ll find them in 770.
If they’re mesameach people, especially Choson and Kalah, I can only say Chazak V’ematz. Yhi chelki imohem.
Chanyukishkeit has no place here.
They are pretty good at their acts, God bless them.
I don’t want to dump into the punchbowl but this is not yiddeshe entertainment for the rebbe’s tish or a big shevah brahcos for the saintly Satmer Rebbe, Z’tl. They would be better off getting a bunch of giyehse acroabats from the circus rather than making two yeshiva bochurim engage in such bitul torah. The earlier poster said it correctly that you would never, c’v see such a shanda at a Belzer simcha.
It is mind boggling to me that people had negative comments. Achdus, talent and mesamayach choson vikallah are all great. These young men have a great deal of natural talent.
#35 Its obvious that you never learned a Blatt Gemurah.Its mentioned many times the way the holy Tanoim were mesameiach a Chuson Vekalah
beautiful!! what a zechus and mitzva to be mesameach others! Its a pity some are blinded by their “self-riteousness” to value its specialty
Anyone know their fees and how to reach them? Will they come over the bridge to Jersey ??
what if chas vshalem they get hurt doing their act
They are amazing! To see two brothers so attached is very warming. I wish them a lot of Hatzolcha in what they do.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry that so many chassidim devote an entire evening to something that wouldn’t pass for entertainment anywhere else in the world.
Really Enjoyed this Thank You! A Freilichann Purim!!!
This was good clean family entertainment…..the kids there appear to be enjoying it…there shouldn’t be any negative comments. The brothers have a unique talent and I wish them well!
the funniest thing is the chussen knows the entertainers better than he does his bride….
he called them to book it
he shook their hands and danced with them, we dont need to go any further