Shifren, Nachum (1951 – )

Media-savvy, longboard-riding Hasidic Jew; author of 2001's Surfing Rabbi: A Kabbalistic Quest for Soul, and later a hard-right politician. Born Norman Shifren in Los Angeles in 1951, the lanky regularfooter began surfing at age 13, lived in Hawaii in the early '70s, and worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard from 1973 to 1977. Shifren moved to Israel in 1977 and served in the Israeli Defense Forces; in 1990 he received his rabbinical ordination. While living in Israel, Shifren gave surf le...