Editorial note: Spoilers ahead for Love Island USA, season 8.
This week on season 8 of “Love Island USA,” the OG Islander girls were introduced to their Casa Amor boys: Corey, Chay, Ronnie, Dylan, Carl and Gal. Wait… Gal? As in the unisex Hebrew name meaning “wave”? As in… is this wavy-haired, swim trunks-wearing Casa boy Jewish?
Let’s do a little research, shall we?
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Gal Tshnieder (his full last name is “Tuchshnieder”) is a 29-year-old Los Angeleno. In 2022, Gal started Saba Surf with his then-partner Laura Quintana. The company began as maker and supplier of surf wax — oh by the way, Gal surfs — and later became a brick and mortar surf supply store and coffee shop. The company takes its name from the Hebrew word “saba,” meaning grandfather, in honor of Gal’s own saba. “He would always tell me: If you want to do something, you just have to do it. Just take the first step,” Gal told Spectrum News 1 in 2023.
Originally from Houston, Gal is one of six children to Jewish parents. His mother Glenys converted to Conservative Judaism after emigrating to the United States from England and meeting Gal’s father. Meanwhile, Gal’s dad is an Orthodox Jew with both Ashkenazi and Sephardi roots. Gal’s saba was born in Poland to a family of cobblers. They owned a shop called Tuchschnieders, which was sadly burned down during the Holocaust. And Gal’s savta is a Moroccan Jew. Both of his grandparents ended up in Israel, where Gal’s dad was born and still has family.
Gal grew up in a home steeped in Judaism and Jewish culture — and that’s even a bit of an understatement. He and his siblings attended Jewish day school at the Emery/Weiner school in Houston, all had b-mitzvahs and learned Hebrew. The Tuchshnieders observed Shabbat through family dinners every Friday, ate chamin and jachnun every Sunday morning and held Sukkot parties every year. To this day, Gal’s father enforces the rule that all his children must come home to celebrate Hanukkah, Passover and Rosh Hashanah. “For my siblings, Judaism is not only the religion we all abide by, but the source that keeps us connected,” Gal’s younger sister Elah once wrote.
Verdict: Yes, Gal Tshnieder from “Love Island USA” season eight is Jewish. He joins Elan Bibas, Eyal Booker, Josh Goldstein and Gabe Sadowsky as Jewish contestants on “Love Island.”
