Israeli Religious Wedding DJ in Los Angeles

A religious Israeli wedding usually opens with the kabbalat panim, the reception before the ceremony. The kallah (the bride) sits and greets her guests, while the chatan (the groom) sits with the men at his own table, where in many families the ketubah — the marriage contract — is signed. Soft music suits the kallah's side; on the chatan's side the singing tends to carry itself.

Next comes the kisui hakallah — literally “covering the bride”, the moment American families call the badeken. The chatan is brought to the kallah, usually surrounded by singing, and lowers the hinuma, her veil.

After the chuppah the couple may spend a few minutes alone in yichud, though at Sephardi weddings yichud often waits until after the reception. Then come the entrance, the first set, the main course, the second set, and Birkat Hamazon (the Grace after Meals) with the sheva brachot, the seven wedding blessings — each with its own music and its own start time.

Under the chuppah the music has one job: carry each person down the aisle, then step aside for the blessings. Three songs are often requested by religious Israeli couples. Mi Bon Siach is the long-standing Ashkenazi chuppah melody. Im Eshkachech, from Psalm 137 — “If I forget you, O Jerusalem” — is often sung just before the glass is broken, by the chatan, a singer or a chazzan (a cantor); some communities don't sing it at all. The third is the Yemenite Bo LeShalom Chatan — the title means “come in peace, groom”.

If the kallah circles the chatan (seven times in many Ashkenazi families; most Sephardi and Mizrahi brides don't circle), the music holds until the last circle. You pick the versions — recorded, or sung live by Ofek Ben Harush, a male Israeli vocalist on our roster — and we time every cue with your rabbi, so nothing plays over a blessing and the music comes in the second the glass breaks.

When the couple walks into the hall, the first set begins — the moment the whole room has been waiting for. The men pull the chatan into their circle, the women surround the kallah, and the songs are the Chassidic and religious ones a religious Israeli crowd sings at full voice. Many couples ask for a machrozet (מחרוזת) — a medley that runs from song to song without a pause, so the circles never get a reason to stop.

We build the set as one long rise: a strong entrance, the songs everybody knows, room for the friends' shtick (the props, costumes and stunts they perform to make the couple happy), the chair lift, and a landing before the main course. If a live drummer or a darbuka player (the darbuka is a Middle Eastern hand drum) joins the DJ, this is where they play hardest.

A live band is the tradition at religious Israeli weddings, and many families still want live music in the room. What has changed is the second half of the night: these days a DJ often takes over after the main course, when the music opens up to Israeli hits, Mizrahi songs and religious pop. Some couples keep live musicians for the chuppah and the first set; others want the DJ all night with live players on top.

Our DJ can work alongside live musicians — a live drummer, a darbuka player, or Ofek Ben Harush singing Hebrew songs live. A live band is one of our services as well: if you want a band for part of the night, tell us on the planning call, and we'll plan the changeover so the floor never goes quiet between the live part and the DJ.

After the main course the room loosens up. The second set is where Israeli songs, Mizrahi hits and Israeli religious pop come in — the music heard at many religious weddings in Israel today. Songs by Hanan Ben Ari, the Israeli religious singer, are played at religious weddings there, and couples who spent a year in Israel often arrive with a list of their own. Yemenite songs come in on request, and so do a few English songs if you want them.

Mizrahi music carries the rhythms of families from Morocco, Yemen, Iraq and beyond, and it can run through the set or come in as its own block.

With an MC in Hebrew and English, the honors under the chuppah, the couple's entrance and the speeches are announced in Hebrew for the family from Israel and in English for everyone else, and every name is said the way the family says it, not the way it looks on a seating card. If your families keep kol isha (men not listening to a woman's singing voice), the whole program can be male vocals only.

Religious weddings aren't held on Shabbat or Yom Tov (the festivals), so the date is checked against the Jewish calendar first. A Saturday-night wedding can only begin after Shabbat ends, a time that moves through the year, so we work from the real time for your date and your community's custom — and if your family wants the set-up done only before Shabbat or after it, we arrange that with the hall.