Surfing Rabbi: A Kabbalistic Quest for Soul

Summary

Growing up under the spell of surfdoms coveted mecca, Malibu Beach, Norm Shifren risks missing his own bar mitzvah to take his first shaky ride at the fabled surf spot. Benignly apathetic about his Jewishness, Shifren pursues his dream of becoming a big-wave surfer, lifeguard, and triathlete.

Shifren’s circuitous journey evolves into a spiritual quest that takes him from the pristine waves of Hawaii and Mexico, to intermarriage in Germany, a soldier’s duty in Israel, and finally, to a small shtetl in Israel, where he learns the mysteries of the Jewish ancients.

His true-life saga is one of new found Jewish consciousness and eye opening self-revelation. Shifren’s life comes full circle as he finds G-d not in the synagogue, but in the majesty of Jewish mysticism and the vast power of the ocean.