Enrollment at Krav Maga schools in New York has surged in recent months as Jewish men and women in the city seek to protect themselves from potential anti-Semitic attacks.
“October 7th was a shock to the Jewish community,” Master Ron Mizrachi, founder and head instructor of the Flatiron District Krav Maga Federation, told The Post.
On October 8, Mizrachi saw a surge in the number of Jews signing up for training at his school.
“The combination of a pro-Hamas and openly anti-Semitic environment led to a new wave of Jewish participation,” he said. “Krav Maga training had not been a priority for them, but October 7th opened their eyes.”
Krav Maga, which means “contact combat” in Hebrew, is a self-defense system developed for the Israel Defense Forces in the late 1940s and incorporates techniques from aikido, boxing, judo, karate and wrestling.
Avi Abraham, founder and head instructor at Active Krav Maga in Fresh Meadows, Queens, has also seen a “significant increase” in Jews coming to training. “Since Oct. 7, we’ve seen a 40 percent increase in classes, especially for teenagers, and most of the new students are Jewish,” Abraham told The Washington Post.
“Our studio has become a gathering place for like-minded people looking for camaraderie and confidence,” he added, noting that he has also been hired by synagogues to train their congregants in the event of a mass shooter.
Matan Gavish, founder of FIT HIT and the Krav Maga Academy in Chelsea, has noticed an increase in Jewish women signing up.
“Many of these women have moved away from traditional fitness activities like SoulCycle and Pilates because our programs not only keep them in shape but also equip them with important self-defense skills,” he told The Post.[They’re] Given this new reality, they are adopting a protective, lioness-like mindset in obvious situations where they may have to protect themselves and their families.”
Ariel Kayden (30 years old) Krav Maga Expert From October 7th onwards, it will be held on the Upper West Side.
She’s been training for nine months at a studio founded by former IDF paratrooper Tsahi Shemesh, and she thinks it’s been worth it.
“Not only do I feel safer as a Jew, but I feel safer as a woman and as a human being,” said Kayden, a New York-based author currently working on a book about Jewish continuity and history.
“Those who take our classes seriously completely change their mindset from that of a victim to that of an empowered person who can stand up and speak out,” said Shemesh, who was herself a victim of violence. Anti-Semitic attacks The photo was taken last November while she was spending time with her two children on the Upper West Side.
Dmitry Sarita, a former boxer turned promoter who is an Orthodox Jew, also knows all too well the prevalence of anti-Semitism and the value of self-defense.
He was nine years old when he and his family fled persecution for Odessa, Ukraine, in 1991, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
They settled in a small one-bedroom apartment in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
With no money, no ability to speak English and endless ridicule for his ragged clothes and thickly accented English, Sarita began boxing at the famed Starlet City Boxing Club, run by renowned trainer Jimmy O’Fallough.
He went on to have a successful amateur career, winning the U.S. Under-19 Championship in 2000 and the prestigious New York Golden Gloves in 2001, where he also won the Sugar Ray Robinson Award as the tournament’s outstanding boxer.
Today, as a promoter, he has a star-studded roster of boxers, including two-time Olympic gold medalist and multiple-division champion Claressa Shields, arguably the greatest female boxer of all time.
But he encourages all people, especially Jews, to be proud of who they are and to learn to fight and defend themselves.
“Who you are should not get in the way of who you become,” said Sarita, who wears a yarmulke and attends synagogue every day. post. “I openly identify as Jewish, I choose to wear a kippah, and boxing and martial arts are a great way to keep myself and my family healthy.”
Jonathan Harounoff is the author of the upcoming book “Unveiled: Inside Iran’s #WomenLifeFreedom Revolt.”.”
