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Ten Black Belts
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL
May 30, 2025, Israel
Man likes to create myths, often these take on religious significance, they become canonized. That is why for me, in particular as a religious person, it is vitally important to separate the myth from the truth, the legend from the historical, fact from fiction, and monetary gain from momentary fame.
One of the myths is that Mr. Imi Lichtenfeld was brought to the USA by one particular Krav Maga association who then had the exclusive legal and moral right to teach Krav Maga and certify instructors. I have known for a long time that this is not true and that Krav Maga is not the exclusive domain of any individual, instructor, or association, but that is not the point of this blog. Rather, the point is educational, not to reopen a legal battle that took place years ago over the use of the term "Krav Maga".
I was sitting with my friend Hal from Philadelphia, who recalls training with Mr. Lichtenfeld during his first visit to the USA. Who brought Lichtenfeld to the USA? Lichtenfeld. Yes, he brought himself. (one can purchase an airline ticket). Unlike the myth that one will find on most American Krav Maga sites, the initiation for spreading Krav Maga abroad came from Lichtenfeld himself, a proud Zionist and a good Jew. He had carefully selected ten American Jewish black belt instructors, found a sponser to bring them to Israel to train for a year at Wingate and then released them back into the wild. His goal was to teach Jews to defend themselvs. He himself had escaped the Holocaust in Europe and understood antisemitism very well. He was returning to the USA as a Quality Check on his instructors. During this particular trip he came to visit his instructor in Philadelphia, and that is where Hal met him and trained with him.
Over the years Hal has trained with many Krav Maga instructors, but as he says, not until he came across IKI did he feel that he found the same spirit, attitude and goals. Here he felt that he was back in class with Imi, as he calls him. Here he felt back at the source.
Hal says that I remind him a lot of Imi, Imi was calm, never scolded anyone, never tried to hurt anyone, corrected students in a gentle manner. Imi was already in his 70's but was fit, flexible and fluid. One can teach even when the "look", the hair, and the youthful body, are gone.
Hal pointed out that Lichtenfeld chose ten individuals, each one had already earned a black belt in a particular style, all were different. Hal's instructor, a Jew by the name of Friedman, had a black belt in Chinese Kenpo. Lichtenfeld's point was not to undo what these men had spent years learning, not to undo their training, delete their previous achievements, but simply to add to it. The point was, and is, that true Krav Maga can be applied to any system, to make it better, more useful, more practical.
On our website, and throughout my career, I have stressed this point, without ever knowing that Lichtenfeld himself had stressed this point much earlier than I. The idea being that we are not asking you to delete and negate everything you had learned earlier, but to adapt our concepts to it, to make your stylé more effective. Similarly, I always stress, and it seems that Lichtenfeld did exactly the same, long before me, that Krav Maga must be adapted to your body, rather than adapt your body to Krav Maga.
We do not expect you to spend hours doing crossfit or lifting weights, that is up to you, what we do is take the body you currently have, with all its imperfections, some due to aging, some due to injuries, and we adapt Krav Maga to you. Our approach to Krav Maga is individual, we are not all the same, we have different bodies and different personalities. What is the same is our right to defend ourselves, our homes, property, our bodies and our family, our dignity. This is the ultimate goal of Krav Maga, and this is what we teach and preach.
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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