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Old Age Self Defense
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL
September 24, 2026, Israel
Menachem Begin 1987, I had the privilege of growing up when this great man walked the earth.
Krav Maga is meant to be an Inclusive method of self-defense. As such, "Even as we age and become weaker, do not abandon us" (from our prayers), we must take our older years into account.
I have witnessed enough incidents of older people defending themselvs to know that it is indeed a realistic possibility. There is every reason to feel confident. Our techniques are based on concepts; simple Gross Motor moves and employing your entire body. As such they can be done at any age. Backflips, high-jump kicks and theatrical martial arts are not required. This is a system you can confidently take with you in your older years. Understand the concept and you will have the technique, mental gymnastics and memorization are not required.
However, there is another factor which I wish to address today; your confidence, your spirit, your self-respect: Your refusal to be a victim. All this translates into the Fierceness with which you, the older person, will be able to defend yourself.
In my own lifetime the greatest living example of this was the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, of blessed memory. But long before he was a politician, he was a fighter, a Freedom Fighter.
Born in Belarus, he experienced every form of Jew-Hatred. Already at a young age he organized self-defense groups. Over the years he experienced fights, arrests, imprisonment and torture. He spent time in Soviet prisons and the Gulag. During the Holocaust, Begin's father was among the 5,000 Brest Jews rounded up by the Nazis at the end of June 1941. Instead of being sent to a forced labor camp, they were shot or drowned in the river. His mother and his elder brother Herzl also were murdered in the Holocaust.
Begin fought on many fronts and because he was a Polish national, he joined the Free Polish Anders' Army as a corporal officer cadet. He was later sent with the army to Land of Israel via the Persian Corridor, where he arrived in May 1942. In the Land of Israel (at the time referred to as the British Mandate for Palestine, a name created by the Romans many years ago), Begin eventually became the leder of the "Irgun", the movement to free the Jewish people from all foreign rule and establish the State of Israel.
Begin, in his older years, continued to be the stubborn Jew who would not give up the fight, not give in to world pressure, and never submit to anyone. I recall with pride and emotion, watching him on TV while in our home in California, as he addressed President Reagan, the American people and the world, and in his heavy Polish accent, less than perfect English, and defiant tone, "You may have forgot, but a Jew bows only to God."
Now I come to the crux of the matter, the point of this little blog; I have been asked many times, how does the older Moshe Katz compare to the younger Moshe Katz in terms of Krav Maga/Martial Arts?
I feel the older Moshe Katz would fare better in a real-life violent situation but not in an MMA tournament. And here is a key point; while we train with techniques and concepts, we never lose our Spark, our Spirit of Resistance. Here is where Menachem Begin comes in, I recall what he wrote in the introduction to his classic "The Revolt", "Truth compels him to ask himself in the presence of his readers, this testing question: If ever again your people should find themselves in a position like that in which they were when you had to "go underground", to fight, to become a hunted "rebel" - in such circumstances would you again do what you did then?
The answer is definitely: "Yes"" '(Introduction, The Revolt, by Menachem Begin)
If we become the hunted, the "rebel", if we have to fight from the underground, if we are threatened, attacked, we shall fight, despite our age. Menachem Begin represents the old broken-down warrior, having survived the NKVD, the Soviet prisons, the Gulag, the Holocaust, the British, the Arabs, wars and torture, yet he was still ready to fight if need be. And the fight would be fierce!
The warrior spirit within us, our training, accompanies us into our older years.
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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