Page 16 - Complete Krav maga : the ultimate guide to over 250 self-defense and combative techniques

the body’s natural instincts. Instead of deciding what he wanted the soldier to do,
he started by observing how their bodies reacted under stress, and used those
instinctive reactions as the building blocks for his self-defense system. This
approach guarantees that the mechanics of the system stay close to the body’s
natural movements. Just as importantly, the approach reduces reaction time,
especially under stress, since the techniques are close to the body’s innate
response to stress.

Another element Imi added to Krav Maga was aggressiveness. This attitude was
also borne out of Israel’s predicament following its establishment. War is always
bloody and brutal, but throughout history many wars have ended with some sort
of agreement: the winner and loser sign a treaty, and the loser often survives in
some fashion. The declared goal of Israel’s enemies was to wipe it off the face of

the earth. For this reason, Israel believed that it could never lose a war: losing
meant it would cease to exist. In response, Israel treated every battle, every war,
like a fight for survival. This attitude permeated all aspects of its training,
including the hand-to-hand combat. Krav Maga reacts aggressively to violent
attacks, moving immediately to neutralize the attacker. We also train with a
“never quit” spirit because (again looking back to the system’s history) the

results of quitting can be devastating to us.

Krav Maga in the United States

In the 1960s, with military approval, Imi began teaching Krav Maga to civilians
in Israel. In 1981, the Krav Maga Association of Israel and the Ministry of

Education held the first International Instructor’s Course at Wingate Institute for
Physical Education. A generous philanthropist from New York, S. Daniel
Abraham, sponsored a delegation of 23 members from various cities in the
United States to attend. The course was supervised by Imi, then 71 and retired
from his military career, and taught by Krav Maga lead instructors Shike Barak,

Eyal Yanilov, and Ruevin Moimon. Darren Levine was selected as one of the
delegates because of his martial arts and boxing background, as well as his
involvement in the physical education program at Heschel Day School near L.A.

The course was a six-week intensive course that involved over eight hours of
training per day, six days per week. The course was exhausting, and by the end
only a few people passed. Darren was one of them.

During the course, Imi and Darren became friends, and Imi promised Darren that
he would visit him in the United States. True to his word, in the summer of 1982