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Continue Training, Tarfon
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL
July 19, 2026, Israel
הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה.
Rabbi Elisha began his Sabbath dissertation, "Rabbi Tarfon used to say; It is not your responsibility to complete the task, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it, to cease working on it." (Ethics of the Fathers, Chapter 2)
Now imagine, he said, you give students a homework assignment, but you begin with, 'You are not required to complete this assignment'; none of the students will even bother! Why should they? They have already been given a "way out", you don't have to complete the task, and yet, close to 2,000 years ago this is the lesson that the great Rabbi Tarfon is teaching.
Rabbi Tarfon lived during a very difficult for the Jewish people, first century, between the time of the destruction of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem and the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-135) and the fall of the stronghold of Beter (135 C.E.). Like myself he was a Cohen, from the descendants of Aharon the High Cohen, he was a righteous man and a great scholar. So what is the meaning of this strange comment?
My own thoughts are that he wanted to emphasize the importance of continuing ones work without the need to finish it at any particular time, without a set deadline. To work without the stress of having to find a perfect solution within a certain amount of time. To be able to focus on the current task without being burdened or discouraged by the idea of having the responsibility to complete the total task, to solve the problem once and for all. Perhaps the lesson is that in our world there are no permanent perfect solutions. No man shall see my face and live, life is without complete certainty, it is an ongoing process of constant reevaluation and adjustment, and this is what IKI Krav Maga is all about.
We do not claim to have all the answers. Unlike many popular advertisements I have seen over the years, our training will not make you immune to all attacks, nor do we promise that you will be able to take on ten opponents at once, all body builders and MMA champions, and "easily defeat them with your newfound skills that you learned while relaxing and watching our one-hour video". That no honest instructor can promise.
We offer logical practical, proven, approaches to self-defense, to survival, that are easy to learn, easy to apply in diverse situations and easy to remember. However, no technique, no approach is the Final Answer, it is an on-going process, and this is the message of Rabbi Tarfon from the first century. You are not expected to find the one and only answer in this lifetime, and if that is your goal you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Look at advertisements from the 1950's and 1960's, the perfect way to remove stains, the most advanced technology, the perfect cure for the common cold, but today that all looks like a joke. But without those inventions we would not be where we are today, it is an ongoing process that will not be completed during our own lifetimes. Thus, you are not at liberty to give up the task, but don't expect to find the final and ultimate conclusion.
And so it is with martial arts, each one claims to be the Ultimate, the one where in just an hour or two of watching a video you will be able to defeat stronger and larger opponents with years of experience, "Your instructors will be amazed", well, actually I purchased many of these videos, and studied them diligently and no one was amazed but some were amused.
Rabbi Tarfon's message is a timely one, and what appears initially as a contradiction makes perfect sense; when you begin this task you are warned, you will not have the final word on this topic, that may come generations later, if ever. And yet, you are not at liberty to cease from searching for the perfect solution. Life is a process of adjustment, and the greatness of human beings is that we can pass on this process, which was begun long before our time, to the next generation.
This morning I attended a Brit/Bris, circumcision. As a Cohen, a descendant of Aharon the High Priest (Cohen) I was invited along with the other Cohen clan members, to bless the child of 8 days. As I looked at him, and one of my fellow Cohen's cried tears of deep emotion, I blessed this child, Adir Yonatan (May he live a long and happy fulfilling life) that he will live to see greater things than I, that these blessings we bestow upon him today shall last long after we elders are gone from this earth, that he shall see Peace in this land, that he shall experience a closeness with God and see glorious things. It is not our responsibility to finish this task, but we are not a liberty to take a break from it.
Moshe Katz, 8th dan Black Belt, Israeli Krav Maga. Certified by Wingate Institute. Member Black Belt hall of fame, USA and Europe.
Understand the Israeli Fighting Mentality - Israel a Nation of Warriors by Moshe Katz
What is the cultural background of Krav Maga? What makes it unique? What makes the Israeli military so effective? Why are Israeli security systems used all over the world?
What are the Biblical origins of Krav Maga and who was the first Krav Maga instructor?
What weapons and military strategies did our Biblical ancestors use?
How has Krav Maga developed in Israel and what are its goals?
All that and more in this unique book.
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