Marcus "Mark" Hardie is an American-Israeli attorney, author, and aspiring politician. Hardie, an African-American convert to Judaism, was raised by his father, mother, and grandmother in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Los Angeles. After graduating high school with honors, he began to look for another meaning in life, and gained an interest in Jewish tradition after he read the Biblical stories of the exodus from Egypt and the Diary of Anne Frank. While in college, he began talking to a rabbi, and announced that he planned to convert to Judaism. Hardie converted twice, first with Reform and finally with Orthodox rabbis in 1997. This conversion took place at the Rabbinical Court of Los Angeles under the auspices of Rabbi Avner Weiss. After finishing law school, Hardie worked as Senior Policy Advisor and Staff Attorney for California governor Pete Wilson. In 1999, Hardie moved to Israel, where he studied at a Jerusalem yeshiva (Hebrew academy) and interned for Ehud Olmert, then mayor of Jerusalem. In 2000, he enrolled in the Israel Defense Forces, and joined the elite Sayeret Golani Brigade. Hardie saw combat during the Battle of Jenin before being transferred to the army's legal department, but after six months, he decided to return to a combat position, and was transferred to the 7th Armored Brigade, where he drove and loaded Merkava tanks near Israel's northern border and manned checkpoints in the West Bank. Following his army service, Hardie moved to the Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, and found work as a bodyguard. He eventually moved back to the United States, but continued to study Judaism, and in 2011, Hardie announced that he would return to Israel within the next two years. Hardie has announced that he plans to get involved in politics, having joined the Likud party, and become the first African-American member of the Knesset. Mr. Hardie is also considering a political career in the United States. He wrote a book of his experiences, Black & Bulletproof.
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