Former Street Thug Turned Orthodox Jew Hopes To Be The First African-American In Knesset

Marcus Hardie grew up in an African-American community in Los Angeles, where his nickname was "American Thug." "I was a tough gangster," he says. But after a religious awakening that brought him to Judaism and eventually led him to immigrate to Israel, his street name changed to "American Faith." In his recently published autobiography, Hardie recounts his journey from the streets of an inner-city ghetto in California to Israeli yeshivas, Ehud Olmert's office and the battlefields of the second intifada.

 

Former thug who found Judaism hopes to be first African-American in the Knesset
26-year-old Marcus Hardie was dubbed by his L.A. gang 'American Thug;' today he is an Orthodox lawyer who enlisted in the IDF as a combat soldier and has his eyes set on politics.
By Raphael Ahren • Ha’aretz

Marcus Hardie grew up in an African-American community in Los Angeles, where his nickname was "American Thug."

"I was a tough gangster," he says.

But after a religious awakening that brought him to Judaism and eventually led him to immigrate to Israel, his street name changed to "American Faith." In his recently published autobiography, Hardie recounts his journey from the streets of an inner-city ghetto in California to Israeli yeshivas, Ehud Olmert's office and the battlefields of the second intifada.

He already knows which Hollywood stars he wants to play his character if his memoirs are turned into a movie. Currently working as a lawyer in California, he is planning to return to Israel soon, with one specific goal: election to the Knesset.

"I was raised by my grandmother - she was a religious Christian and used to anoint my head with oil and give me blessings," Hardie, 39, told Anglo File recently during a phone interview. A "troubled youth in America's violent inner city," as he described himself, Hardie joined a gang his cousin had started. But after his cousin died during a burglary, Hardie quit the gang life and looked for meaning elsewhere.

"I became interested in the Jewish tradition because my grandmother had me reading the Bible. I read about the Jews coming out of Egypt and I became interested in the people of Israel," he recalled. "After I got into college I started talking to a rabbi and he questioned me about why I was interested in Jewish tradition. I told him that I was interested in being a part of the chosen people."

Hardie underwent three conversions: first with Reform, then with Conservative and finally, in 1997, with Orthodox rabbis. After graduating law school, he worked for California Governor Pete Wilson.

In 1999, Hardie immigrated to Israel, a country he had visited only once before. For about six months, he studied at a Jerusalem yeshiva and interned for Ehud Olmert, who was then the capital's mayor.

In 2000, the 26-year-old Hardie enrolled in the Israel Defense Forces' elite Golani Brigade.

"I was getting fired upon at one point in Jenin," he recalled. "It was pretty dangerous stuff."

Because he was a lawyer, Hardie was transferred to the army's legal department. "But after six months of being a jobnik," he said, using army slang for non-combat soldiers, "I decided I wanted to do more combat."

He was transferred to the army's armored division, where he drove and loaded tanks near Israel's northern borders and later manned checkpoints in the West Bank.

After the army, Hardie moved to the Ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak to work as a security guard.

"I lived among the yeshivas, the Haredim and I was learning Torah too," Hardie said.

While he had adopted an Orthodox lifestyle back in 1997, he became even more religious in Bnei Brak. "One of my favorite cities in Israel to this day is still Bnei Brak. I love Orthodox Jews and the Jewish community there. I love spending time with the rabbis, I love davening and praying."

In 2004, Hardie returned to America for a woman, but the relationship didn't work out, and he is still single.

"Although I'm back in the U.S., I still consider myself Israeli and I still study Torah every day," Hardie said. "I'm both American and Israeli. But I'd say I feel more Israeli."

That feeling figures in his plans to return to Israel in the next two years and get involved in politics.

"I want to become the first African-American member of Knesset," he said. "I think I can do it because I served in the army, I did reserve duty, I speak Hebrew, I'm a member of Likud and I'm still active in politics," he said.

Hardie is currently working on a Middle East peace plan, which calls for a de-militarized Palestinian state with Ramallah as its capital.

In the meantime, Hardie is looking for Hollywood producers interested in turning his 320-page autobiography "Black and Bulletproof: An African-American Warrior in the Israeli Army," published last year by New Horizon Press, into a movie. As actors for the lead role he suggests Will Smith, Jamie Foxx or Denzel Washington. "I think it would be great if we could get Steven Spielberg to direct it," he said.

[Hat Tip: Seymour.]

Comments

[Adam Neira]

Fascinating story. Personal redemption is possible. If he is interested in making the world a better place, good luck to him.

[itchiemayer]

So is a black person living in Russia an African American? Is the white South African American that is President of my Shul not an African American? That is why I can't stand that term.

[joe]

Something about his entire story sounds fishy. I don't believe his facts. He is trying to mooch off the jewish community.

[Yakira]

Itchiemayer: No, the white South African would simply be a South African American not an African American. Sorry, but no white person can claim to be an African-American nor can people who emigrate to US from different African countries can claim that ethnic description. If one is from Ghana then one would be called a Ghanaian American. We use the description, African-American because we can't possibly use anything else. We don't know our lineage, we don't know exactly what tribe, clan, or African country we came from. All we know is that our ancestors were brought over here from somewhere in Africa. This is just my opinion.

[itchiemayer]

Yakira - Thank you for your dignified response, and I appreciate what you say. However, I know that many people, when asked to describe a black individual in Russia, would refer to them as an African American. I have heard this, although it might not have been a black Russian although they definitely exist. So my point is that it really isn't a good term of description. My question to you is what, in your opinion, should be the descriptive term for a black person of color, American or not. All the best

[ah-pee-chorus]

as a black man, if he really wants to be accepted in the ashkenazi haredi circles he's going to have to learn to look down on himself and to discriminate against himself.
if he becomes a rebbe he'll have to deny his own daughters admission to his school.

[Adam Neira]

Correct Hierarchy of Identity Constructs

(1) Child of G-d/Human Being
(2) Name
(3) Gender/DOB/Birthplace
(4) Nationality
(5) Religion/Belief System

How people define and locate themselves, i.e. Self Concept, is fascinating. It is also the cause of much trouble and chaos in the world because many people cannot see the commonality in the other person. People see others and pigeonhole and slot them into a certain position to their liking. Objectification thus takes over and we are all divided from each other through toxic perception. A clear view becomes a shattered lense.

[anti feinstein]

Fuck reuven Feinstein

[Yehuda_ben_Yehoshua]

I love seeing black jews.

[Jeff]

as a black man, if he really wants to be accepted in the ashkenazi haredi circles he's going to have to learn to look down on himself and to discriminate against himself.
if he becomes a rebbe he'll have to deny his own daughters admission to his school.

Posted by: ah-pee-chorus | May 19, 2011 at 11:42 PM

HA!

[itchiemayer]

When I see a black Jew, a Chinese Jew, an Indian Jew or any Jew, I see a Jew.

When I see Ivankala (Yaelkala), I'm not honestly certain either way.

[pierre]

As much as I may disagree with some of his ideological choices, that his story diverges so much from other people who come from one place to another is refreshing. He didn't leap from one extreme to another...he walked!...not unlike many a DC intern BT has. I think he'd be a great Shabbat guest (claims about his grandfathers WWII unit being Dachau liberators aside).

[tooclose2detroit]

as a black man, if he really wants to be accepted in the ashkenazi haredi circles he's going to have to learn to look down on himself and to discriminate against himself.
if he becomes a rebbe he'll have to deny his own daughters admission to his school.

Posted by: ah-pee-chorus

that was very very funny.

[pierre]

@tooclose; In none of the interviews I've seen is he outwardly identifying with charedim - or even wearing a kippah! We're not reading a ver batim transcript of an interview - we're reading a journalist's piece about him, which means expurgated based on any number of motivations and designed for readers; I'm sure like many a BORN Jew, he articulates affections and appreciations that are not their actual, chosen lived facts on the ground.

[tooclose2detroit]

yeah, no doubt there are questions-but, hey, the dude risked his life for the Jewish people, so thats a helluva better start and commitment to many of the gey'rim that I meet that I wish Vegas had a table to bet the over/under on-not that they are bad people, but it happens that after a few yrs that many question their actions and put the beanie back in the drawer-if this dude fought for us, I would bet the over-(not alot of money, but would still take the over).

[Yochanan Lavie]

Apologies to Coolio:

Spoken)
Nu? You want to tell me what this is all about?

As I walk through the gei tzalmavet
I take a look at my life and realize there's something of it
Cause I've been davening and learning so long that
Even my rebbe thinks that my mind is gone
But I ain't never crossed a terrorist that didn't deserve it
Me, be treated like a Yid, you know that's unheard of
You better watch how you talkin', and who you follow
Or you and your homies might speak loshon harah
I really hate to trip, but I gotta loc'-
As they grew I see myself in the Uzi smoke, nu
I'm the kinda G the little frummies wanna be like
On my knees in the night
Davening in the street light

Been spending most our lives living in the Black Hat Paradise 4x

Tell me why are we, so blind to see
That loshon harah hurts you and me

[ah-pee-chorus]

YL - i like your foray into hip-hop. such artistic diversity.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Thanks, it's one of the few hip hop songs I know.

[A E ANDERSON]

When I encounter black African Jews (i.e., presumptive converts to Judaism), my thoughts inevitably turn to Mel Brooks and "Blazing Saddles." It's like Mel Brooks' humour made flesh. Yes, I realise that's not a nice thing to say. But it's true. I picture an Indian chief making a Yiddish joke to a Negro sheriff who threatens to "whip it out." I think there's a Freudian thing going on here.

[Joe Doe]

lets be honest here about human nature - there is something fishy about his story - you don't see people running to convest to be members of a low caste in India - beware of people seeking to be Jews just to gain (intentionally or unconsiously) higher status. that is not a demeaning thing to say - its called human nature and is set forth all day long by sociologists and anthropologists !!

[nobody]

enough of americans and israelis with their disastrous "peace plans." This guy was fine until that bullcrap.

[yonah hall]

Well I find this man and his story very interesting because I am an African-American Jew.I am also from the inner city in Los Angeles and converted to Judaism 30 years ago with the Orthodox Beit Din in Jerusalem.15 of my 30 years as a Jew I've lived in Israel,where I now am.

I've known many Black Jews over the years,some converts and others who were born Jewish.Since I came in Orthodox and have remained so,most of the Black Jews I've known have also been Orthodox.

I have only met one convert who did it for financial gain and she was white!Plus even though she converted with the Eda Charedit in Mea Shearim,she was never religious and certainly isn't now.

On the other hand all the Black converts that I've met,including myself did it for spiritual reasons and have had to face ceaseless questions about both our Blackness and our Jewishness from both non-Jewish Blacks and white Jews,who think nothing of asking you to tell your story as if you were some kind of freak.

To the man who said he'd love to have Marcus as a Shabbat guest,I can only say this,If ever you do have a non-white Shabbat or Yom Tov guest,DO NOT ask them a whole lot of intrusive questions.They don't know you and it's none of your business how it is that they are Jewish.

I stopped answering questions after my first 5 years as a Jew,so if you had me as a guest you wouldn't get anything from me,except a crazy look.

I intend to get this brother's book because I'm sure his perspective is interesting.Instaed of speculating about him,why don't you read his book?

[Dave]

Yonah, very well said.
What I don't understand is that why would any "born Jew" suspect anyone of wanting to convert to Judaism so they can either 1) make aliyah or 2) obtain "higher status".
Let's be honest, people, we're a TINY minority. North America and western Europe are very much majority-Christian societies, as secular as they may claim to be. Therefore it's NOT an advantage for a non-Jew to convert to Judaism.
Let's deal with the argument "ooh those sneaky 3rd-worlders who want to convert to Judaism so they can make aliyah and mooch off the Israeli state".-SARCASM. Let's be honest, Israel is unfortunately still under constant low-level threat from terrorism, and If G-d forbid one is in the wrong place at the wrong time, that suddenly becomes a high level threat.
So a person from the 3rd world may gain economically from moving to Israel, but they'll be under constant low-level terrorist threat.
So, again, no net advantage for a 3rd world person to move to Israel.
My conclusion is therefore: if anyone wants to convert to Judaism, just say "thank you very much, you are most welcome to join our people". It goes without saying that any potential convert must be vetted to ensure they don't have a hidden agenda of spreading Christianity or another religion, but that can be dealt with in the converstion process.

[dlz]

He seems very sincere and committed - it would be a shame if he entered the Knesset....

[tooclose2detroit]

amazing that when a black converts to judaism, it is treated in jewish and non jewish media as if he became grand master of the Klan-backs convert to Islam by the thousands, and nobody says gatz-what is so counter-intuitive about blacks and judaism?

[tooclose2detroit]

SARCASM. Let's be honest, Israel is unfortunately still under constant low-level threat from terrorism, and If G-d forbid one is in the wrong place at the wrong time, that suddenly becomes a high level threat.

Dave

Dave-I am sure you are a wonderful fella, but I find this idea naive-to say that they arent better off in Israel, even under the low level threat, than the hellholes in africa that they come from, is, as i say, naive-i am not passing judgement on these people as converts, just your idea.

[Yochanan Lavie]

In my (Modern Orthodox) shul we have a family of African-American converts. No one treats them like freaks. In fact, they have become pillars of our community.

[Dave]

TC2D- I disagree with your point for the following reason, or should I say question:
How many suicide bombings in sub-Saharan Africa have you heard of lately? I rest my case.
Yes, many Africans do have a very hard life, but they may not choose to go into a situation where they have to confront security threats that they haven't dealt with before.

[aaa]

Jerusalem should annex Ramallah. Then Israel can divide Jerusalem. East Jerusalem (previously known as Ramallah) as the capital of Palestan.

Palestine is of couse as Jewish as Einstein.

[Yonah Hall]

Because I live in Israel,I see on a daily basis the non-Jewish third world refugees that have pored into Israel.They obviously prefer Israel to where ever they come from and almost none of them have any interest in becoming Jews.In fact a high percentage of those from The Sudan and Eritrea are Muslims!.

On the other hand there are a lot of Phillipino women who have entered the country as guest workers and many of them do want to become Jews,after they've been here for a while.They often marry Israeli's and have no desire to return to the third world.

Although we may be under threat from hostile Arabs,we don't live as if we are,so on a day to day basis it is still safer in Israel(unless you live too close to the Gaza strip),than in most other places.

[Yakira]

Icthiemayer: Sorry it took so long to respond back to you. As for a descriptive term for any black person: It all depends on where he/she comes from. Most blacks in France, England, Germany, Spain, etc. know where they emigrated from. For example, if a black person emigrated from Congo to France then he would simply be a Congolian-French. Any person who refers to all black Russians as African-Americans are plain ignorant- with all due respect. Now if the black Russian in question has moved to Russia from the US then they're correct. I don't know a lot about Russian history but I've been informed that there are real black Russians who have been born and raised in Russia all their lives.

[Mikey]

I have heard this, although it might not have been a black Russian although they definitely exist.

Yes, I've tried a Black Russian, it was quite good, too!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Russian

[Mikey]

Yakira,

Your parameters for defining who should be able to refer to him/herself as "African-American" would exclude people such as Obama, who had a white American mother and a Kenyan father.

[Mikey]

I don't know a lot about Russian history but I've been informed that there are real black Russians who have been born and raised in Russia all their lives.

Disregarding my facetious reference to the alcoholic beverage earlier, I think most people in Russia of African descent are descended from African students who went there during the Communist era and married locals.

One very famous black Russian today is Yelena Khanga (who is halakhically Jewish), her grandmother was an American Jewish communist who married an African-American communist and then went to the USSR. Her father was an African Muslim diplomat. She wrote an interesting memoir called "Soul to Soul" that I read some time ago. According to wikipedia, she's also hosted a Russian show about sex, I guess maybe she's become like the Russian Dr Ruth!

Of course, the most famous Afro-Russian would have to be Pushkin, the national poet of Russia, his great-grandfather was an Ethiopian.

[Mikey]

However, I know that many people, when asked to describe a black individual in Russia, would refer to them as an African American.

Even further off-topic, and worse, this will out me as a Trekkie nerd. I remember when "Star Trek:Voyager" first went on the air in 1995, one newspaper review described the character of Tuvok as the "first African-American Vulcan". How could he have been African-American if he was from the Planet Vulcan?

[Yakira]

Mikey: I could care less about Star Trek and vulcans because they are fictional characters. I have already stated that Afro-Russians/ black Russians are not african-americans- African-Russians would be a more appropiate description. So what my parameters would exclude Obama?? That doesn't mean that we can't show fondness & love to him and his family. Obama is American; both of his parents were American except one was born in Kenya. Obama is mixed and nothing is wrong with that; therefore, I don't quite understand you bringing him up??

[Mikey]

I could care less about Star Trek and vulcans because they are fictional characters.

So, Vulcans are fictional characters. That doesn't mean we can't show fondness and love to them and their families! (Even though they wouldn't appreciate it, because they dislike displays of emotion and claim to have no emotions).