Hannah and Josh Black Profiled in CMP Article

The Civilian Marksmanship Program recently ran an in depth article on Jewish Marksmen Hannah and Josh Black (http://www.odcmp.org/1213/default.asp?page=THEBLACKS).  Interestingly, the article made a point of discussing their Jewishness:

Religion is important to both Hannah and Josh as well. Having grown up with a strong Jewish background, they both directly state that it impacts their everyday lives – it affects how they view the world.
Josh is involved with a Jewish youth group at a Chabad synagogue and is a founding member of a Jewish Scout group. He can also chant Torah.
For Hannah, choosing to go to college at Texas Christian was worrisome at first, but she soon learned that TCU is very accepting of all students, even their Jewish students.

Check it out! (Thanks to Mike for sending the link!)

What has the Jewish Marksman been up to?

I've received a few emails inquiring into the blogging slow down.  The past few months I've been busy with a few things: work-related travel and marathon training.  I completed the marathon a couple weeks ago, finishing in 5 hours.  Not bad for 39, and weather that reached the 80's.  I did see one Israeli guy (well I assumed he was Israeli given the Star of David on his running shirt) so I yelled Shalom and gave him a high five as I passed.  Training for the marathon took up a lot of my time.

In training on the SCATT I seemed to have maintained my score level, in fact, I think I've made some improvement and will blog about that soon.  Now that the marathon is done I'll have more time to focus on improvement in shooting and blogging about it.

Jewish Gunsmith Budd Gardstein Passes

Sad news.  Perhaps the only contemporary American Jewish gunsmith, Budd Gardstein of Kentucky, has passed away.  From his obituary:

CORBIN — Budd Henry Gardstein, age 65, of Lily, passed away Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013 at Saint Joseph London.
He was born Jan. 12, 1948 in Brooklyn, N.Y. to the late Seymore Gardstein and Helen Cohen. He was a self employed Gunsmith, a member of the Lily Volunteer Fire Department, Air Force Vietnam Veteran, and was of the Jewish Faith.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Edna Hensley Gardstein.
He is survived by wife Shirley Haynes Gardstein of Lily, two sons, James David Gardstein of Indiana, Matthew Daniel Gardstein of Florida, two stepsons: Matthew Hejnar and Daniel Hejnar, both of Philadelphia, Pa., stepdaughter, Jessica Hejnar of Lily, and sister Ronnie Gardstein of Washington, D.C.

Baruch dayan ha'emet.