Dennis Hanover & Hisardut

Hisardut Krav Maga Training In Boston

N.B. Krav Maga Yashir’s Head Instructor, Gershon Ben Keren, is a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Hisardut and is a former instructor under Dr Dennis Hanover. The method/approach is taught in our GI classes.

Although Krav Maga has developed into a “complete” Martial Art/Fighting system, that is a relatively new phenomenon, and was originally more of a course that was taught to members of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force), as opposed to a system – that has of course changed, largely due to it being civilianized and taught as a martial art/self-defense system to the general public. This originally left a gap in the IDF’s training i.e., they had a solid, basic hand-to-hand combat program/system that was suited to general infantry etc., but nothing that was more substantial than that, which could be taught to more elite units. This is the gap that Dennis Hanover’s Hisardut (meaning “Survival” in Hebrew) method filled.

Dennis Hanover was born is South Africa in 1937. In 1960, Dennis emigrated to Israel and began teaching Judo (he had won the Transvaal Open Judo Championship in 1957, the year he got his First Dan Black Belt). In 1961, he started teaching Karate as well. In 1975, Dennis and several other notable Israeli Karateka, were invited to take part in the first world Knockdown Karate Championship, organized by Mas Oyama, in Japan, with Dennis later becoming the first president of the Israeli Kyokushin Karate Federation. Over the years Dennis began to combine Karate and Judo, into a new system/approach. In many ways Dennis Hanover, was practicing MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), long before the name and practice were formed/recognized. In 1983, his system of fighting was officially recognized as Dennis Survival Ju-Jitsu, by the European Ju-Jitsu Union.

The system is based on combining the striking of Karate, with the grappling of Judo, and the joint locks and controls of Ju-Jitsu, and how to transition between them. Techniques and solutions were derived from all three to deal with modern weapon attacks and firearms etc. both against trained and untrained adversaries. A small elite cadre of instructors under Dennis, train members of Israel’s equivalent of the Navy Seals (Shayetet 13), the riot suppression teams (Mishmar Hagvul) of the Yamom (Israel’s Border Police and Anti-Terror units), along with the Secret Service (Shin Bet), and many other elite military units and government agencies.

The Dennis Hisardut system, was incorporated into the Israeli National School Curriculum, and is endorsed by the Israeli Department of Education, along with the Wingate Institute.