Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz

Surfwise is above all adjectives, an inspiring chant of life – life in a different, alternate way, to the standard path we all know. This is the story of the Paskowitz family, a Californian 9- kids patriarchal family who went through their adolescent years, brought together and glued by surf and by the centrifugal force that Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz – the ultimate beach boy, created.

A story of the quest for wisdom and life enriched with experience instead of knowledge and average know-how. Dorian truly touches you with first-hand life wisdom – the kind of wisdom so foreign to any university, college or school. These were the tools that Dorian wanted his kids to acquire when he raised them on a motor-home and embarked on a trip of the surfing way of life: eat healthy, live healthy, surf healthy. To some, these commandments may represent a motto, to others – a marketing technique, and to many Californians today and then – true words of faith.

Paskowitz Family

Doc was above all a surfer, the father of the first surfer family, who directed a surfing camp at San Onofre for many years, where the creme de la creme of surf gathered together, either to teach or to learn, and above all – to share their love for this fantastic sport/culture/philosophy/way of life. Doc taught his 9 children to eat healthy, so as to surf longer, and to contend with little – for when you take more than you need, you are in fact taking from someone else. And still, most of his children today, though some of them resent him – still make a living from surfing. Young Dorian abandoned Texas and chose to become a lifeguard in California.

Dorian Paskowitz at his best

He then studied medicine in Stanford, which he described as “a place to acquire knowledge, not wisdom”. He finally chose Hawaii as a place of residence and got married, but his first wife cheated on him and they were divorced. The trauma from the separation from his second wife led him to travel to  Israel, in search of his Jewish roots, and to seriously research the female sexual cycle, practically.

Dorian Paskowitz, the grandpa

He ended up back in the States, where he met his last wife, of Mexican origin, who received the highest score for her sexual performance, and to whom he is still happily married. It is mainly the story of a man who committed plenty of mistakes, also with the upbringing of his children, but who recognized them – and hoped for better. A truly wise human being. Score: 8.

surfwise family surfers

the family on the caravan

Life Apart brings us a view into the life of the Hassidic Jews in the United States: how Hasidics arrived to America in the first place, how do they live their day-to-day life, interact with society and preserve their tribute. During the most antisemitic times in Europe, the Hasidim sought a place where they would be able to live peacefully and thrive as a community, far from persecution and pogroms. At first, and before World War II, the US did not strike them as a place where they could live freely on the one hand, and preserve their Jewish identity and heritage, as it was passed on from the old Eastern European Hasidic communities – on the other. This was, in their eyes, due to two main reasons: First, American freedom seemed too strong to cope and second, the American way of life expected a person to assimilate within it. And so, many of the Hasidic leaders that visited the US before the beginning of the WWII, advised not to relocate to America, for the strength of the required assimilation was impossible to overcome. Nevertheless, this documentary presents a post-Holocaust Hassidic community, formed by those who survived the Holocaust and their descendants, “making it” in America, the Hassidic way – recreating, reuniting their old communities that were left behind, after the attacks of the Cossacks, Slavs, Communists, Catholics and Protestants. Eventually, they find in the US a liberal land, that permits them to keep their faith and perform their rituals together as a group, without dreaming the American dream. They have no need for Harvard or Yale, they do not seek fortunes, they focus on studying, on their kids’ education, and on rehabilitation. After the passage of half a century, America has proven to be a good adoptive parent for European Hassidism. Score: 7