(Photo: Itamar Development Foundation)Stern, a 31-year-old martial arts expert, started exploring the field when he was a child. By the age of seven he was already training in three different methods of the arts. When he joined the Marines his skills meant that in addition to serving in one of the US military's most prestigious units he was also training officers in Krav Maga.
At the end of four years of service in the Marines, Stern flew to Japan where he trained with a Ninjutsu master and received a 5th Dan black belt.
Encounters with a Marine Corps rabbi led Stern to return to his Jewish roots and become religious. Seven Years ago he made aliyah, and after spending time in Safed he moved to the settlement of Itamar in the Samaria.