1. Yitzy lives in Great Neck, New York, with his wife and three children, where he is the full-time chazzan at Great Neck Synagogue.

2. A soloist in Miami Boys’ Choir from age eight to thirteen, Yitzy’s first solo was at a concert in Montreal. His most famous solo was “Sunshine,” from Miami’s 1995 album, One By One.

3. His father played clarinet and saxophone on the New York wedding scene for decades, but as a budding young singer, Yitzy felt that wind instruments were not for him, and preferred instead to study piano and guitar.

4. An avid cyclist, the young chazzan cycles about 120 miles a week, some of them together with his family.

5. Yitzy is an old friend of Baruch Levine, Yaakov Shwekey, and Simcha Leiner, and was the singer at Leiner’s chuppah.

6. Today, Spinner works as an orchestrator (arranger). He was responsible for all the musical scores on the recent Project Relax: the Israeli Edition, and regularly writes the score for concerts and live events. He’s also sung in concerts with Lev Tahor’s Eli Schwebel and Gadi Fuchs (who have released five of their own albums).

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 737)