Professor Vora Lessons
BY MOSHE KATZ 
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL

March 19, 2026, Israel

BaruchCollegeID

The year is 1985. I am young, my future ahead of me. I am still trying to figure out my life. The future is unwritten and yet we try to plan it, to control it. The Bible teaches us that the future is not for us to know, no man shall see my face and live, and yet, we want to know, to plan.

During my college years as an Economics and Business major I learn about the "Five-Year-Plan", I learn about "Management by Objective". In the synagogue I hear my dear father say on the New Moon each month, May every day bring us closer to some worthy goal. We set goals, clear paths to follow, and we pursue those goals until we achieve them.

However, as much as I would like, I do not have my future planed, I do not have it all mapped out in front of me, I am like the traveler in the Robert Frost poem, two roads lay before me

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

And so I chose a path of a degree in Business and Economics, seemed like a good choice at the time. It was a road traveled by many and seemed like a good decision. With uncertain steps I entered a world I was not familiar with, out of my comfort zone. I had left the warm cozy world of the yeshiva (rabbinical college) in Israel for the Business world of Manhattan. I was surrounded by unfamiliar faces, the road less traveled. For me this would be a road with bumps and bruises, but my ultimate goal was to return to Israel with a respectable degree, and to be able to earn a living and not be dependent on anyone other than myself. 

I took the road, yet not knowing its path. I ventured with unsure steps. 

And now, Advanced Economics with Prof. Vora, a fair but strict man who demanded excellence from his students. At the time some of the demands seemed unreasonable, too much for our young stature in life. What his true intentions were, sadly I shall never know, but I look back now, with the life experience of an older man, I look back 40 years, and I understand the lessons better. 

I am not in the field of Finance, or Economics. But we are all in the field of life. And Prof. Vora showed us that young and arrogant as we all were, cocky and sure of ourselves, graduate students in an advanced course, the road ahead was filled with twists and turns none of us young people could imagine. Perhaps this was the true nature of the course? This is the course of life, of the Unknown, of the unknowable. 

As I write these words, I am in such a life. The year now is 2026, the Middle East, a war of such proportions that again, alas, the road less taken, where will it lead us, it is unlikely I will finish this blog without hearing a siren and needing to run to the bomb shelter. Will flights arrive today? Will the airport be open? Will there be public services offered, will I be able to earn a living? Ah, but it was all planned, all mapped out years ago, a career, a job! I am again 26 years old, sitting in the classroom, and the questions do not match my expectations, this is an unknown path, as all true paths in life are. 

And which path do I choose? and which direction do I take? two roads lay before me on this winter day, and I am just passing through, like so many before and so many after, I look out the window. 

The questions on his exam were familiar, similar but yet the subtle differences made them impossible to answer given the answers that we had prepared. Of this he had warned us, for this he had prepared us, but yet, he prepared us to be prepared, but it was for us to heed the warning and truly prepare ourselves. 

The years pass. And now, as a Krav Maga instructor, research and developer, I see a situation, a hostage situation, a young woman is held at gun point, she is being grabbed by the arm and held close. Yes, of course we have dealt with similar situations in the past, thousands of times, but yet there are some nuances here that are different, and those small subtle differences change the entire balance of the situation. None of our known, well-rehearsed, techniques will work over here. but why? The difference is so small?

Prof. Vora to the rescue. It is precisely these moments where our future is determined, And once again I am a young man, sitting near the window, left side of the room, across from the door. An empty exam sheet in front of me.  It is 1989, a cold winter day in Manhattan, my future hangs in the balance.

If I cannot answer these questions, I will not pass the exam, fail the course, not graduate, not get the work, the future, that I seek, that I plan, upon. An empty exam sheet and nothing less than my future hangs in the balance.

Yes. Prof. Vora, I get it now! This is life. There are no easy answers, perhaps there are no answers at all but yet we must proceed. I must write something! Now it is 2026 and the war prevents me from doing my work, there are no known answers, but yet I must work, I must survive. An exam paper, three complicated questions, and no "given" answers. We need to think on our butts, as in the future I will learn that we must "Think on our feet". An hour passes, and my exam paper lies before me, empty, clean. Think Moshe, Think!

2026, now I teach my students, The key with IKI Krav Maga is to learn to Adapt, Adjust, Apply, and Achieve our goals. This is not just Krav Maga, lesson for all life, as Mr. Miyagi said, lesson for all life Daniel San. 

We face a challenging situation, there are no known answers, but we must move ahead, a life is at stake, perhaps many. I tell this with a sigh, with a sign of age, yet with the hope of youth, the old man and the young man converge as I look ahead as the two roads converge and I must choose, alas, only one. 

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.


Related Blog

Unprepared for the Test of Life - Prof. Vora

Comment from Peter, IKI Germany

Dear Moshe, 

I read your words and I can feel the sirens between the lines—but even more, I feel something else: your will to keep moving forward. You are not only standing in the year 2026. You are also in that lecture hall in 1989, and in the here and now. Then, as now, there is a blank page in front of you. And that is where hope lives: a blank page is not an ending—it is possibility. You made it back then not because you had all the answers, but because you stayed. Because you kept thinking when others might have given up. Because you had the courage to act despite uncertainty.

And I see that same strength in you now. War asks questions that no one can answer perfectly. It changes the rules, shifts the ground beneath your feet, takes away certainty. But it does not take your ability to adapt. Not your mind. Not your experience. And not your spirit.You already said what the key is: adapt, adjust, apply. That matters now more than ever. Israel is a country built on exactly that ability—not on easy answers, but on determination. On people who keep going even when they do not know where the path will lead. On people like you. Maybe that is the true lesson of your exam, then and now: It is not the right answer that shapes the future—but the decision to answer at all. You are not 26 again. You are stronger than you were then. Clearer. more experienced. And this time, the page is not empty.It is filled—with everything you have learned. The sirens may come. The uncertainty will remain. But so will you. And sometimes, that is exactly the difference that changes everything.

May god be with you. Warm regards to Ester. We stay with Israel. 🇮🇱🇩🇪

Peter

MosheKatz2024

Moshe Katz, 7th dan Black Belt, Israeli Krav Maga. Certified by Wingate Institute. Member Black Belt hall of fame, USA and Europe.

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