ISRAEL - GOD WENT SURFING WITH THE DEVIL

Photographer Bryan Derballa has just finished shooting a film about the lives of surfers in Israel and Gaza called God Went Surfing with the Devil. He's taken some great photographs during his travels in the region, most of which you can find on his blog. Here are a selected few...

We went down to the Dead Sea on our day off. Its shores are the lowest dry land in the world at some thousand feet below sea level. It's also one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world. You could float on your back for miles. It's believed that the mud is good for the skin, but I think it's good for the soul.

One week we found ourselves in Jerusalem where the Hasids were protesting the sale of leavened bread during Passover. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers waited up the street while many more disgruntled men in dark coats and fur hats gathered in the square. Old men with grey beards shouted vehemently in Yiddish about the desecration of their Jewish state by secular interests.

Despite being a country at war, Tel Aviv is a pretty relaxed place. It looks like how I'd imagine Miami did in the 70s. Everyone goes to the beach, which they refer to as the sea, and there are restaurants that just serve bowls of hummus. The girls are beautiful, but their boyfriends could inflict serious damage on you. Military service is mandatory for 18 year-olds.

Jaffa is the Arab neighborhood south of Tel Aviv.

Nachman Meu'man is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Apparently it's a bunch of ex-rave kids that turned to religion. They spread the word of the Torah by driving around in vans late at night blasting techno remixes, replacing all the words with "Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meu'man". They pull over and dance like madmen. Nachman believe that dancing is a supreme form of prayer.

Sderot is a poor town in the south of Israel near the Gaza border. It has been the target of thousands of Qassam rockets from Hamas over the last seven years. Those who could afford to move away have. Those who can't must be strong.

This photo is from Independence Day. We'd just got back from a weekend in Gaza. Everything was going great until we got arrested by Hamas.

Soldiers are omnipresent at the border, given recent Hezbollah activity in Lebanon. Fearing border raids and sniper activity from a neighboring Druze village, teens with M-16s told us to leave the area.

I was just in Egypt visiting my father and family I never see. Despite hardly knowing me, they were incredibly loving. The patch on my Uncle Mohsen's forehead is a result of prayer.

After beach time it was skateboard time. Slalom and leap-frogging and chestboarding a plenty.

The full God Went Surfing with the Devil website launches July 1, with trailers and more information about the film. If you would like to be placed on a mailing list, send an email to godwentsurfing@gmail.com and they'll send you an update every so often.

Comments

[sdf]

i spent a year in israel, and miss it like you wouldn't fucken believe. thank you for the accuracy. na na nachma nachman meumaaaan!

[emilee]

great photos! Looking forward to watching this film!

[fred]

Israel is awesome and if most of the haters even spent 1 day there they would agree.

[Benjamin]

Israel is awesome if your Jewish. Otherwise, less so.

[yup]

israeli men are wimps. just because you spend time in the army dont make you scary.most of them just dick around there, not get navy seal like training you sissy.

[Cooler King]

What's with the veneration of these religious zealots, so long as they're Jewish? Why can't we accept that the Hasidim are just another group of wacked-out sheep, like the FLDS or the militant Shi'a or any other band of extremists? Some may see their big furry hats as proof of an enduring and beautiful faith... but really, it's a sign of nothing more than the fact that they still live their lives according to the antiquated rules of a band of nomadic shepherds. Way to not learn anything in 5,768 years.

[Taeil]

Probably the only place in the Middle East that doesn't suck. Surf's up, Jew.

[jewluva]

Hey Cooler King, those hats date back to the beginning of the Hasidism in the 1700s in Russia, where they aped the hats of the local nobility. You actually think people were wearing giant furry hats, white stockings, and black trenchcoats in the middle of the desert 3,000 years ago? Now who's being stupid. (The answer is you.)

[jewluva]

they also opt for passive-aggressive terror tactics like bad breath and asking you if you're jewish so they can give you a blessing in one of those mitzvah booths during high holidays, which are admittedly obnoxious but not quite as inconvenient as blowing themselves up in the doorway of a nightclub or raping their child brides.

[Garefield.]

Third pic down from the top. FTW.

[Garefield.]

awsum pics. i would love to go to that country, war or no war, the country looks beautiful, full of culture and heritage.

[-Antonio]

Photos look amazing, these dudes are cool as shit.