Training For Real Life Violence

There are those who have little interest in how/why Krav Maga was created, often because they learnt what they know as “Krav Maga” from instructors who never trained in Israel and were taught by a generation whose lineage places them so far away from those who founded, created and initially developed the system/approach, that the history of Krav Maga is irrelevant to them. However, whilst traditions and authenticity, when it comes to fighting and self-defense, should be second to relevancy – if there is a better way to do something it should be adopted rather than holding to an old technique/solution – it is by understanding why and how Krav Maga was created/developed that we can understand the significance of the system’s underlying concepts, heuristics and ideas.

The Origins of Krav Maga

Krav Maga (meaning “Contact Combat” in Hebrew), is the hand-to-hand fighting system that is used by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force), however its origins were in civilian self-defense, in Europe rather than Israel. The “creator” of the method/approach, Imi Lichtenfeld (though others participated in its development), was a Jew who lived in Bratislava (Czechoslovakia), during the 1930’s, when antisemitic fascist street gangs roamed the streets looking to attack and terrorize the city’s Jewish population. Imi’s father was a police officer who had taught him wrestling (in 1935 Imi was part of a wrestling team that competed in the Maccabi Games), and some basic Japanese Ju-Jitsu, and so Imi organized a group of Jews in his neighborhood with the aim of protecting the Jewish community from these gangs. For Imi it quickly became apparent that those who he had help train in how to fight and defend themselves weren’t replicating those things they’d be taught and were instead responding in an instinctive manner, such as flinching and raising their hands up to protect their faces when punched, rather than responding with formal trained blocks that they’d been taught. This quickly became a realization that what worked in a controlled combat sports setting, such as in a boxing ring, wasn’t replicable where real-life violence was concerned.

The Development & Evolution of Krav Maga

At the time members of the Haganah were training in unarmed combat using a system referred to as KAPAP (an acronym of “Krav Panim a Panim” which translates as “Fighting Face to Face” in Hebrew). KAPAP was a conceptual system that utilized techniques from Boxing, Wrestling and Ju-Jitsu etc. Imi became a KAPAP instructor, whilst at the same time experimenting and developing concepts and ideas, which would later become known as “Krav Maga” (even in the IDF, up until the late 1960’s the hand-to-hand program of fighting that its members were taught, was often referred to as KAPAP rather than Krav Maga). When the State of Israel, announced itself, almost all of the paramilitary groups were formalized into the IDF (Israeli Defense Force). With the Haganah being the largest, their members became the most influential, which resulted in Imi Lichtenfeld becoming head of its fitness and hand-to-hand combat program. In this role, Imi along with others, developed his ideas and what is now known to be Krav Maga was born.

In 1967, Imi left the IDF, and started developing Krav Maga for civilians, rather than for military personnel. This saw the utilization of the belt system, to denote rank and progress that was first created by Judo founder, Jigaro Kano, as a means of grading students. Also, some “softer” solutions to violence were developed, as the military objective of killing an attacker, didn’t fit with many civilian contexts e.g., there may be times when it is better to disengage rather than engage with an attacker/assailant etc. By the 1980’s Imi had a group of Black Belts who were well trained and experienced in his system. These included Haim Zut, Miki Assulin, Avi Moyal, Eyal Yanilov, and Haim Gidon (all instructors whom, Gershon Ben Keren, Head Instructor of Krav Maga Yashir Boston has trained with).

In 1993, whilst in Israel, Gershon Ben Keren was introduced to Krav Maga by two of Gabi Noah’s students (Gabi was another of Imi’s original set of black belts and instructors). Later he would complete the 29-day IKMF’s (International Krav Maga Federation) instructor course, under Eyal Yanilov (who is now the Head Instructor of KMY – Krav Maga Global). Originally Gershon taught in the UK and Europe but in 2008, he moved to Boston, bringing Krav Maga Yashir (the name he refers to his “style” of Krav Maga), to Massachusetts and New England. If you are looking to learn authentic Israeli Krav Maga, that can trace its lineage, you can sign up for one of our beginner Krav Maga classes using the button below.

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