Shammai Kancepolsky

Shammai "Topsea" Kancepolsky (April 15, 1915 - May 24, 1992) was an Israeli lawyer, one of the first lifeguards of Tel Aviv, the father of Israeli surfing, and the first surfboard shaper in Israel. He advocated for the development of marine sports, the training of lifeguards and emergency services at sea, and the promotion of the rights of lifeguards and the safety of swimmers alike. 
Topsea beach, located in the center of Tel Aviv, is named after Kancepolsky along with the first surfing center in Israel.
==Early life and education==
Shammai Kancepolsky, known by the nickname "Topsea", was born in the town of Yalta to Tzvi and Hella Kancepolsky. The family, which included Shammai, his parents and his younger brother, Mishka Kancepolsky, immigrated to Israel in 1922 on a ship called Costanza and settled in Tel Aviv. Shammai's father was one of the founders of the transport company "The HaMaavir"., which later became the public transport company known as Dan Bus Company, while his mother was a stay at home mother. Shammai was in the fifth graduating class of the Tel Nordau school in Tel Aviv. After that, Kancepolsky studied at Nordia Gymnasium in Tel Aviv, and during his studies, skipped two grades. Kancepolsky received the nickname "Topsea" as a young boy and he became known by this nickname for the rest of his life.
==Legal studies and lifeguard training==
After graduating from high school, Kancepolsky’s parents sent him to study law in Italy. While studying, Kancepolsky heard from an Israeli friend that they were looking to appoint the first beach lifeguard of the Bayit Vagan neighborhood, now known as Bat Yam. Due to his love for the sea, Kancepolsky chose to return to Israel to take on the lifeguard position at Bayit Vagan. While serving as the first and only lifeguard at Bayit Vagan, Kancepolsky, along with his father, built multiple "Hasaka"s, boards used by lifeguards and fishermen to travel in the water. In 1957, Topsea, while working as a lifeguard, completed his studies towards his law degree at the School of Law and Economics in Tel Aviv. In 1958, after passing the bar exam, Topsea received a license to practice law.
Later in Topsea's lifeguard career, he worked as the head lifeguard of Frishman Beach in Tel Aviv and eventually as the beach manager of Hadrim Beach (Hilton) in Tel Aviv.
==Family life==
From his first marriage to Ita Kancepolsky, Topsea had two children: Zeira Kancepolsky and Nir Almog. Almog became a well-known surfboard shaper and founded the Intersurf company for surfboards
Topsea's second marriage was to Naomi Kancepolsky, a lawyer, lifeguard, and the first female Israeli surfer. Together, Naomi and Topsea had four children: Havana Avital, a swimming coach, Amour Kancepolsky, former national champion in surfing (in the 1980s), Dr. Oshera Kancepolsky, one of the founders of the Public Defender's Office in Israel, and youngest son, Orian Kancepolsky, who founded the "Topsea" surfing center, the first surfing club in Israel, inspired by the way his father taught and promoted surfing in Israel. His grandson is the soccer player El Yam Kancepolsky.
Topsea died at age 77.
==Development of Water sports in Tel Aviv==
===Hasaka===
First, Topsea and other Tel Aviv lifeguards built the “hasaka” for rescue purposes only. Later, he and a few other lifeguards started renting hasakas to swimmers, allowing them to be used recreationally, becoming a common water sport in Israel. In 1950, Topsea, together with Shmuel Zeitlin, embarked on a famous sea voyage from Tel Aviv to Haifa on a hasaka.
Topsea continued to cultivate the sport of paddling on a hasaka on all of the beaches where he worked as a lifeguard (Bayit Vagan and Frishman beach) and beach manager (Hilton Beach) and then as part of his work as an independent business owner of renting boats, hasakas and surfboards (Hilton Beach). However, in 1977, the business of renting boats became one that had to be approved by the state under the Business Licensing Law (1968) and Topsea was forced to stop renting out haskas. After his application for a business license to continue his work on Hilton Beach was rejected, the Tel Aviv Municipality demanded that he vacate his business from the beach. The municipality offered Topsea an alternate opportunity to move his business to Geula Beach in southern Tel Aviv, but at that time Geula Beach was considered promiscuous and unregulated due to emerging brothels, questionable bars, and gambling joints. Therefore Topsea considered this area to be unfit for running a business.
Due to this unfortunate circumstance, in 1982, Topsea and his wife Naomi Kancepolsky filed a petition to the High Court against the Tel Aviv Municipality's decision to evict him from Hilton Beach (High Court 46/82 - Shammai Kancepolsky et al. v. Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality). The petition was rejected, but in the margins of the decision the court expressed the hope "that in light of all the circumstances and especially considering the dedicated service of the petitioners for the sake of water sports in Tel Aviv, the respondents' proposal will also stand in the future, giving the petitioners a permit to conduct their business elsewhere on the Tel Aviv waterfront, be it at Geula beach or another suitable place.” As a result of this decision, Topsea was forced to stop renting out hasakas and decided to focus entirely on surfboard rentals and surfing instruction.
==Surfing in Israel==
Topsea continued the development of the sport of surfing in Israel and helped to increase its popularity throughout Tel Aviv and Israel as a whole. He became known as the founder of the sport of surfing in Israel.
The story of surfing in Israel began in 1956, when Dr. Dorian Paskowitz, a surfer from Hawaii, arrived in Israel with six surfboards decorated with the Star of David which he used to surf in Israel. Paskowitz began surfing in Tel Aviv at Frishman beach, where Topsea had been working as the head lifeguard. Topsea was impressed by the sport, and developed a close relationship with Paskowitz. Paskowitz gave his surfboard to Topsea and begin sending surfboards from Hawaii to Israel upon returning to the United States. This allowed Topsea to begin developing the sport of surfing in Israel.
Eventually, Paskowitz sent five surfboards to Israel which became stuck in customs at the port of Haifa because they were not labeled with an exact delivery address. The customs officers took the surfboards and used them as furniture and shelving in their homes. Topsea, his wife Naomi, and Shaul Zinner located the five surfboards and took them back.
Using the new surfboards from Hawaii, Topsea began teaching surfing. The sport of surfing increasingly gained popularity on the beaches of Tel Aviv and the surfers of those days received special treatment and admiration in the city. To further develop the sport of surfing, Topsea manufactured surfboards and would rent them out at Frishman Beach.
Category:1915 births
Category:1992 deaths
Category:Israeli lawyers
Category:Israeli people