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Jewish Tricks
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL
July 9, 2025, Israel
Some members of the Bielski otriad partisan resistance/survival movement, sometime around 1941-2, a forest, Poland, or Belarus, under the threat of the Nazi regime and its many collaborators.
There is a great line in the movie "Defiance", the true story of the Bielski family and the Bielski otriad partisan resistance/survival movement. They took to the woods to escape the Nazis near Novogrudok/Nowogródek נאַוואַראַדאָק, then Poland, now Belarus. Originally from the village of Stankiewicze , where they were the only Jewish family and constantly had to fight to survive, the Bielski boys grew up tough. They created a thriving Jewish community in the woods and swamplands and eventually saved over 1,200 Jews. Their disadvantage of being, tough, uneducated Jews, became their advantage, as they had developed true survival skills. Their disadvantage became their advantage.
The great line I am referring to is when a good kind helpful White Russian, Belarussian, said, "Why is it so Fuc..ing hard being the friend of a Jew?" to which Zus responds, "Try being one."
Yes, try being one. It is not easy, as I grew up hearing Shver tsu zayn a yid, it is difficult to be a Jew. And yet there are those who decide to join us. One of them, my student and friend, recently wrote about her experience with us in Krav Maga. She wrote about what she calls a "Jewish trick", I had never heard this phrase, or approach, before, but I like it. She wrote,
It's not the first time I've seen this traditional Jewish trick — the transformation of a curse into a blessing — but it always fascinates, and it always surprises.
Krav Maga demonstrates this transformation on many levels, starting with the most obvious: the very existence of such a group is due to the fact that we can be attacked at any moment, anywhere. But instead of retreating into fear and isolation, a group gathers where you are taught — with joy and without fear — various ways to strike back at a terrorist.
Teacher Moshe spoke about choice, and how important it is to understand when conflict can be avoided, and when one must fight for one’s life.
I like this concept, though I have never heard it presented this way, Jewish tricks. I guess we take the difficult, the challenge of being a Jew in a hostile world, and we turn it around. We take the tiny State of Israel, without any natural resources, and we turn it into an Economic miracle and a leader in High Tech. As Bob Zimmerman wrote,
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, under no one's command
He's the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon
No contract that he signed was worth that what it was written on
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health
He's the neighborhood bully.
What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothing, they say. He just likes to cause war
Yes, it is a quality to be proud of. Give us lemons, we make an international lemon juice business. Limit us to the ugly job of money-lending, and we create the banking system. Give us hatred and we create Krav Maga. And now we must make our Krav Maga even better. That is where IKI Krav Maga enters the picture.
As one of our members wrote me today, "IKI just works….not that it is easy or simplistic in thought, quite the contrary…it is very detailed in development, but simplistic in application. I find that quite profound."
Our goal is to make things work, for whom? for the mediocre, for the average person, for the older person, for the person who has failed in other martial arts, for the busy businessman with little time to train, for everyone.
We are faced with violence, we are faced with the unknown, we are faced with ugly brutal soulless people trying to hurt us, there are no weight classes, no gender divisions, no age or rank categories, only the fear, chaos and Ugliness of the world, and then we must use our "Jewish trick" as Tanya called it, take this disadvantage and turn it around, create something useful, for all people, under all circumstances.
There is a saying, I have learned much from my teachers but more from my students, indeed, this is a great insight, our little "trick", let's use it. Join us for class.
Moshe Katz, 7th 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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