Krav Maga Kill or Cure? by Moshe Katz

 

Moshe Katz doing a pistol disarm at his training facility in Maaleh Adumim, Israel

Waiting at the train station yesterday I saw a sign that read, "Kill or Cure?", it was relating to certain plants and how sometimes they are poison and sometimes they are used as medical cures.

I realized the same can be said of martial arts training.

During my many years of teaching I have seen how Martial arts/Krav Maga training has transformed the lives of many. I am not speaking only of the physical knowledge of self-defense and the ability to survive a violent encounter but of the emotional transformation that often takes place.

I have seen souls arise from the dead to take on new lives. I have seen people recover from broken, shattered lives; Divorce, illness, obesity, abusive relationships and trauma.

This was something I had not planned on nor expected, but it happened.

I have seen children and teens overcome their violent tendencies. I have seen people cured of bullying others, of uncontrollable outbursts of violence. One student used to throw chairs at his classmates during recess, go berserk at them. Today he is an instructor. Our IKI instructors as well have told me stories of young men and women whose lives have taken on new meaning, how they have learned to overcome their violent outbursts.

Now if you were to suggest to a parent to enroll their aggressive problem child in a Krav Maga program you might very well encounter the following reaction: "You want to take a child with a violent tendency and train him in the deadly art of the Israeli commandos? Have you lost your mind? You want to teach violence to an already violent child?"

Well, like the plant that can kill or cure, depending on how it is used and prepared, and in what doses, so too Krav Maga can be used or abused.

In the hands of a bully, an ego-maniac or a criminal it can be used to train for violence and intimidation, and we certainly have seen some of that. We certainly have seen the ugly side of the arts, boxing champions beating up their wives and girlfriends, instructors behaving in criminal ways. However in the hands of a responsible instructor, these tools, these combative skills can be used to empower, to calm the soul and create a peaceful warrior, a man of peace, a gentle man and a gentleman.

With strength comes confidence. With confidence comes peace. With peace comes the power to give. The power to kill or cure is in our hands, lets use it responsibly.

by Moshe Katz, IKI Krav Maga, Israel