- Extracted from Kravstation.com
- Posting by Mr. Boaz Aviram
- 3rd in line Chief of Krav Maga IDF
Response to Laszlo who said he follows Mr. Immi's small printed booklet, which included 14 pages which included names of techniques, exercises divided by belts, yellow to black.
Mr. Boaz responds:
Dear Laszlo,
I do have the list of the civilian Krav Maga techniques you are talking about. It is true that Immi (I am using two m's since this is how Immi signed his name in English).
I was teaching in the IDF after Eli Avikzar, and I also went through the civilian training method on my spare time while and after I was teaching in the IDF.
What I've noted that the Krav Maga for civilians was modified by Immi. Immi felt that youngsters should not learn what soldiers did. So personally, I prefer the IDF Training Method. For some the civilian training method is preferred.
Mr. Boaz quotes this article from People Magazine.
November 15, 1976 People MagazineVol. 6No. 20
It's Called 'Kosher Kungfu' but Imi Lichtenfeld's New Martial Art Is a Deadly Affair
By Arturo F. Gonzalez Jr.
Try and strangle me, please," 66-year-old Imi Lichtenfeld of Tel Aviv politely asks one of his students. As the neophyte lunges, Imi's rigid palm shoots out and quivers at the attacker's windpipe. "I didn't want to fight," explains Imi. "Now you don't want to fight. In fact, you're lucky if you're still alive."
Imi, 5'6" and 150 pounds, is the creator of a deadly martial art called krav-maga. The name comes from the Hebrew words krav for fight and maga for contact. The irreverent call it "KosherKungfu." It has become internationally recognized, with eight black-belt holders.
But in its pure form, krav-maga is too dangerous for widespread competition.
"When a martial art becomes a sport, like judo for example, the lethal movements have to be restricted," says Imi. "This destroys the basic principle of krav-maga:
You automatically end the fight by putting an end to your opponent." Imi teaches at a gym outside Tel Aviv. Childless, he lives nearby with his wife of 16 years, Elana.
When the Israeli army was formed in 1948, he was the regimental sergeant-major in charge of all hand-to-hand combat training. "What I was teaching," he says, "was a unique combination of judo, karate, akido, kungfu and boxing."
His tactics are now standard in the Israeli forces. If the Israeli paratroopers on the recent Entebbe rescue mission had fought the Ugandans hand to hand, they would have used krav-maga.
Imi programs his students as though they were computers. "Once you have all the tapes inside your head," he promises, "you can beat anybody. Your eyes are figuring the angle your body is forming with an opponent and making calculations for you."
The essence of krav-maga is economy of motion coupled with imaginative embellishments on the other martial arts, which Imi thinks are too inflexible. Imi's pupils are taught to limit opponents' blows to the outsides of their arms and legs while striking at the throat, belly, chest and groin.
"I've developed one knife move," says Imi, "that no opponent can stop. But I don't want to put it down in print. It's too dangerous." Imi was raised in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, where his father, Samuel, was a police inspector and a European pioneer in the martial arts. "He founded a jujitsu school in 1907," Imi remembers. "He was a good policeman. He had to be tough to survive." So did Imi. "I began fighting anti-Semitism in the '30s," he says. "When the Hitler youth gangs used to single out Jewish young men on the streets, it was either hit or run. I found the hitting more satisfying." During World War II Imi served with a Czech exile regiment, which he joined after being rescued from a sinking ship in the Mediterranean by a British destroyer. Most of his family died in the Nazi gas chambers. At war's end he settled in Palestine. A civilian since 1963, Imi still puts in a full day, specializing in instruction to paratroopers, commandos and phys ed teachers.
Currently Imi is trying to modify krav-maga so that nonlethal self-defense can be taught to Israeli youngsters. "I want everybody in this country," he says, "to be ready for a fight."
*End of article
Per Boaz Aviram:
Don’t know if you have noticed but I have found something in this article to support the back cover of my book. "When a martial art becomes a sport, like judo for example, the lethal movements have to be restricted," says Imi. "This destroys the basic principle of krav-maga: You automatically end the fight by putting an end to your opponent."
And then: Currently Imi is trying to modify Krav Maga so that nonlethal self-defense can be taught to Israeli youngsters. "I want everybody in this country," he says, "to be ready for a fight."
This is the Krav Maga you generally get. (blogger's note: civilian version taught outside of the idf). This is why I was not happy with the Civilian Association and did not think that the way they taught was Krav Maga.
But now it is the time to realize that since terrorism attacks civilians, civilians have to be trained as soldiers. Sharing the secrets of training has an advantage over keeping them. It is up to us the civilians also to make that judgment of who do we want to teach and who do we prefer not to teach. It is not always a clear decision, but we need to keep it in our minds. Since terrorist target civilians, civilians should be trained!
End of posting
* blogger's note to readers:
In case you did not know, there are different sets of Krav Maga instructions now:
1. Those taught by instructors that had graduated from Immi's civilian dojo
2. Those taught by instructors who graduated AS INSTRUCTORS from the IDF Krav Maga school.
3. Those taught by instructors who did a short course in Krav Maga in the IDF while doing mandatory service.
4. Those taught by instructors who were Krav Maga instructors in the IDF and are martial artist.
5. Those taught by ex-IDF soldiers who were schooled in martial arts who did neither the Instructor's course nor the short course in the IDF.
6. Those taught by instructors who RENAMED their system to Krav Maga or took up the name of Krav Maga
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*Self defense is a subset of Martial arts*
*Reality based self defense training cannot always be 100% real, because there may be no one left to train with! But do it real enough or else RBSD is just a bullshit term* - Me
*Train for what happens most and you will be able to handle most of what happens -- Marc "Animal" MacYoung*
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