The Krav Maga Matrix

Summer camp; I did not fit in as a kid and years later I did not fit in as a counselor.

I did not fit their image of a happy child. I did not smile a lot, I did not conform to expected behavior nor did I wear the same clothing as everyone else. Why? Because that was just me.

This caused my mother some concern but my father was never worried.

Somehow I did not get it; I did not get it that a child needs to smile all the time so adults can be content that all is well and the child is "normal". I did not get it that people want to fit in and will give up their personality to do so. They will forfeit their God-given uniqueness and their gifts in order to please others and be socially "fit".

I did not get it, and I still don't get it.

This led one mother to say "Who is that individual?" (in the most negative connotation). I was an individual but I did not know it. I was just being me. Perhaps this is where the roots of IKI Krav Maga began.



Moshe Katz at the Western Wall, a retaining wall from the Second Temple which was destroyed in the year 70 C.E.; an individual talking with God.

I look at a technique and know it is supposed to be right but I just don't see it. So I am the kid who shouts "but the king has no clothes!"

i.e. this is what I see so this is what I think and say. Most people just live in the martial arts matrix and think – this is what is presented as truth so I must conform to this truth.

When I was going off to Rabbinical college in Israel one of the rabbis in high school tried to push me along, before I was ready. He said, "What is taking you so long to chose a school?", I replied, "I am searching for a school that fits my philosophy." To which he replied, "Just chose a school and fit in with their philosophy". I lost all respect for that "teacher".

We are born as individuals , this is our gift to ourselves and to the world. If we pursue our individuality we can make great contributions, like Albert Einstein, a high school drop out and misfit. But most people quickly understand, on an intuitive level that individuality carries a heavy cost. They understand that they smooth transition into society is by dropping what make you – you. Without realizing this we lose our ability to be individuals, we lose the ability to truly think for ourselves. We are willing to be "sold" almost anything, including "Self Defense" that will only get us killed.

At IKI we are not part of the Krav Maga World matrix. We stand outside and say – this is not the truth. We challenge the existing order and bring on the critical remark of that stupid woman who looked at me and said out loud in a derogatory way, (In Hebrew), "Who is the individual?"

Well I can answer her now;

That individual is someone who is making a major contribution to world of Krav Maga and self defense. And why? Because he never felt the need to fit in and satisfy her need for order and conformity.