Kahuna of Kabbalah

For Rabbi Nachum Shifren (aka The Surfing Rabbi), “The world of surfing reflects the hand of the Creator. The whole concept of a wave that starts thousands of miles away, that’s hands-on experience of the primordial force.”

The California native grew up indifferent to his Judaism and passionate about the Malibu surf. His path to religion took him around the world, spending years surfing in Mexico, studying in Germany and working on a kibbutz, until finally his car broke down on Shabbat during a visit to a rabbi in Santa Barbara.

Rabbi Shifren saw it as a sign, and his life changed, but the lessons learned in his pre-religious days still influence his life. Though his emphasis on surfing has garnered the rabbi much attention (he’s been featured in every major surfing magazine), there’s more to Rabbi Shifren than mysticism and longboards. He details the long strange trip from secular surfer to surfing rabbi in his book “Surfing Rabbi: A Kabbalistic Quest for Soul.” Living in Los Angeles for the past two years while writing and promoting the book, Rabbi Shifren continues to do what he has done for most of his adult life: teach.

Yes, the Surfing Rabbi teaches at the beach, paddling out with Jews and non-Jews, young and old. He leads surfing Shabbatons. But that’s weekend work, and this rabbi has a day job. Rabbi Shifren teaches Spanish and bilingual education at Maclay Middle School in San Fernando. Before moving to Israel in 1995, the rabbi taught at Dorsey High. Though some parents are surprised at first by the bearded Spanish teacher with a kipah, Rabbi Shifren says the students never mind; in teaching, “being a little eccentric doesn’t hurt.”

One person who clearly understands the eccentricities of the Surfing Rabbi is his publisher (and wife), Rivkah Shifren. The founder of Heaven Ink Publishing (which also publishes Judy Gruen’s “Carpool Tunnel Syndrome”) was raised Catholic by her Latino father, until she discovered that her mother was Jewish. The revelation sent her in search of her own Jewish identity. Today the Shifrens have four children and plan to move back to Israel eventually, where they still own a home.

But for now, the couple is focused on getting out the story of a rabbi who is “bound to Torah and out at sea.” Rabbi Shifren’s weekly e-mail newsletter and dvar Torah, “Surf and Soul,” reaches hundreds attracted to the spirituality he finds in the waves, 40 percent of them non-Jews. A promotional tour is planned, including stops in Israel and Australia, where he’s been invited to teach the congregation of Chabad of Melbourne to hang ten. And though the 50-year-old rabbi spends much of his time teaching schoolkids, studying and promoting his story, he says, “I can still out-surf kids half my age.”

For more information please visit SurfingRabbi.com”>