Krav Maga Training on Israel's Legendary Masada

Jennifer & Vanda learn how to escape from a rear choke using Israeli Krav Maga

We got an early start to drive to Israel's legendary Masada. Once there we prepared to hike up the side of the rock plateau to see the ancient structures and hear the legend of how a few hundred brave Jewish Rebels went head to head against the strongest empire of the day, Rome. The ancient palace and fortification on top of the natural rock plateau were originally built by King Herod in the Southern District of Israel on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. In the first century CE during the final push of the First Jewish–Roman War, the Siege of Masada by troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of the Sicarii rebels. Until recently new IDF soldiers were sworn in on top of Masada by torch light. To put things into an American perspective, Masada is to the Israeli's, what the Alamo is to Texans. of the

The sun was hot, but not unbearable. Once in the shadow of the rock face it was actually pretty nice. The climb was a nice workout that felt good after being in the tour van for so long this week. Elliott stopped our accent a few times to fill us in on how the Romans would lay siege on to the Jewish Rebels of Masada. He showed us the ruins of the 7 foot siege wall, the outpost and command center that the Roman soldiers built around the entire rock plateau. Elliott explained how it only took the soldiers about one week to do this. It was amazing that their was still remnants of the structures left after two thousand years of erosion. Elliott went on to explain that the command building was positioned in such a way that the commander could actually talk to the people on top of Masada. I'm sure what was said between them was less than friendly. 

We continued to climb the steep stairs until we finally reached the summit. Looking down we could see the remains of the ramp that the Roman soldiers built that went from the ground below all the way up to the top of the plateau. The Romans used Jewish slaves to build the ramp to stop the rebels from attempting to harm the workers as they built the ramp. You can read about the rest of the story by clicking here. 






Vanda escapes her husband James hold on her Krav style!


As an intermission between Elliott's commentary, Mike Benson and I rounded the crew up for some Krav Maga training. I had the honor of introducing six Americans to authentic Israeli Krav Maga on the top of legendary Masada! Not a bad day at all! How many people can say that their first Krav Maga lesson was on Masada in Israel!? 

One of the main things that I wanted to get across regarding Krav Maga went beyond technique. It was about the attitude, so what better place to get that point across than on top of Masada!? That's the true essence of Krav Maga! Those people who stood up against the Roman's chose between really bad and and a whole lot worse. They believed it was better to chose to die in a manner that they controlled, a more dignified way than succumb to the fate that they would have at the hands of the Roman Army. A tough decision would be an understatement. 

Keep going,
~Craig



Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 27, 2014 at 10:50 AM

    craig is there a email we can talk on please

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Craig GrayFebruary 27, 2014 at 8:02 PM

      Steve- I can be reached at roninkravmaga@gmail.com

      Delete
  2. kravmagafithitMarch 12, 2021 at 9:15 PM

    Great Article. Thank you for providing such a unique and valuable information to your readers. I really appreciate your work. krav maga academy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shaan Saar Krav MagaDecember 22, 2021 at 1:53 PM

    I generally check this kind of article and I found your article which is related to my interest.Krav Maga Orlando.Genuinely it is good and instructive information. Thankful to you for sharing an article like this.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Uncomfortable Situation

Image
  Funny pic (and movie) about a not so funny situation… In training as in Life, it’s better to treat people with dignity and respect. However… What does that look like in the moment? Being that I’m teaching a Women’s Assault Prevention and Response Workshop this weekend - it’s probably a good time to talk about… Uncomfortable Situations Let’s talk about training at the academy for a minute… We run open co-ed classes at the local academy. What does that mean? Men and women train together, but we don’t stop there. People of different skill levels, backgrounds, ethnicities, sexual orientations, careers, religious beliefs, political affiliations, ages, injuries, pre-existing conditions, life experience, training expectations etc. etc. train together! We ALL work together! Overall, I think it’s better this way. Of course sometimes there’s static, you know, conflicts, and misunderstanding. When something happens, most of the time it’s just that, a misunderstanding… Sometimes people ...
Read more

What'd You Say?!

Image
  You ever have a conversation with someone who really lifted your spirits? How about having a conversation with someone who’s a real downer?! We spend a lot of time talking to people. Matter of fact, talking is one of the most under rated and under trained aspects of protecting yourself. It’s much better if you can talk your way out of a bad situation, rather than having to resort to some form of physicality. This is why we spend so much time on sharing effective communication frameworks in the PeaceWalker course. But All of that Aside… When we think about communicating, we often just think about talking to other people. We forget how we talk to ourselves! You may have heard it called, “Self talk.” All day long we talk to ourselves. We carry on an inner dialogue in our heads that only we can hear. Unfortunately, this means it's very easy to be hard on ourselves. There's something about privacy which makes it easy to say the things you would never say out loud to another living...
Read more

Cracks in Your Foundation?!

Image
  Last night we had one of our weekly coaching calls for the PeaceWalker Evolution Course. What a great call! Rob and Jenn, a couple of the Level II - Momentum folks (people who graduated from Evolution last year and came back for the second Level.), were tasked to run the meeting as part of their training. I must say, they did a stand up job! The topic of discussion was building an Unshakable Foundation. WTH is that!? It’s basically the way you live. Your habits. What you do in your day to day life. How do you train your… Body  - Your physical health Mind  - What you’re filling your head with Mouth  - How you’re communicating Heart  - How you foster your relationships Why?! Without a solid foundation it’s difficult to remain balanced. When you are not balanced, it more difficult to stay calm, cool, and collected, (especially) under pressure. As I often say,  “You can’t hide crazy.” (It eventually comes out!) Regardless… You don’t have to be in the PeaceWal...
Read more