"There are no dangerous weapons. There are only
dangerous men". Robert A. Heinlein
What do you do if trouble breaks out and you don't have your firearm handy?
Krav Maga is a military hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel, which assumes
no quarter will be given, and emphasizes threat neutralization.
Krav Maga originated in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s.
The primary founder, Imi Lichtenfeld, moved to the land of Israel when
circumstances for Jews in Europe took a turn for the worse. From Israel, Krav Maga
spread to the rest of the world. There have since been splits and there are now
several organisations teaching variations of Krav Maga. It came to prominence following
its adoption by various Israeli Security Forces.
Krav Maga was developed in Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the 1930s by Imi Lichtenfeld, also known as Imi Sde-Or.
(Sde-Or - "Light Field" - is a calque of his surname into Hebrew)
He first taught his fighting system in Bratislava in order to help protect the local Jewish community from Nazi militia.
Upon arriving in the British Mandate of Palestine prior to the establishment of the Jewish state,
Imi began teaching hand-to-hand combat to the Haganah, the Jewish underground army.
With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Imi became the Chief Instructor of Physical Fitness and Krav Maga
at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) School of Combat Fitness.
He served in the IDF for about 20 years, during which time
he continued to develop and refine his hand-to-hand combat method. In 1978, Imi founded the non-profit
Israeli Krav Maga Association with several senior instructors. He died in January 1998 in Netanya, Israel.
Rocky Mountain Krav Maga
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