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TagsBY LINDA STEIN
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Gripping the knife in my hand, I face Abel Kahn and attempt to stab him in the chest. With a deft motion, Kahn deflects the blow with his forearm and brings his other fist within inches of my jaw.
Welcome to Krav Maga, the Israeli self-defense system with the motto: There are no rules.
Kahn, 34, and his brother David Kahn, 37, founded the Israeli Krav Maga center in Hamilton, Mercer County in 2007. Their father, Alfred Kahn, is an investor, along with actor James Gandolfini, who sometimes trains there, Abel Kahn said in a recent interview."Clean shoes and dirty fighting welcomed," a sign at the entry to the large gym area warns. The idea of Krav Maga — a martial arts system developed by Imi Lichtenfeld in Eastern Europe as a way for Jews to protect themselves against the Nazis and now used by the Israeli Defense Force — is to be able to "aggressively defend yourself" from an attack and then get away, Kahn said.
"When attacked, you have to meet the threat with force," Kahn said. "Too little force, you'll be overwhelmed. Too much and there's liability." It allows a person "to simultaneously defend and attack. The object is just for your safety and not to subdue or anything. And anybody there, that's with you, to protect them."David Kahn learned Krav Maga when he was in law school in Florida. He saw a man on the street with Hebrew writing on his shirt, asked about it and was invited to a class. The man, Rick Blitstein, said, "‘Come and tackle me.' Rick took him and put him on the ground immediately. Rick is a slender man. My brother, who was a college football player, knew he was interested in this."
Blitstein, along with Alan Feldman, trained in Israel 1981 and brought Krav Maga to the U.S., Kahn said.
Krav Maga proved its use in 2003 when Abel Kahn took a round-the-world backpacking trip.
"I'm not a small person but there were a few aggressive encounters where I had to revert to my training," Kahn said.
A group of men in Hamburg, Germany attacked Abel and his cousin.
"They were local thugs, brandishing weapons," Kahn said. "There was an altercation with my cousin win a supermarket. They followed us home to his house and kicked in the front door. It was scary. It's something you never want to encounter."
Using his Krav Maga skills, the Israeli art of self-defense, Kahn fended off the attackers. Four other times during that 2003 trip, Krav Maga came in handy, including when a pickpocket accosted him in Vietnam.
Some of his students have also used Krav Maga to protect themselves including a man who fended off a knife attack at a local bar. And many law enforcement officers from the New Jersey State Police, Mercer County Sheriff's Office, and the Ewing, Hamilton and Burlington City police departments. Military personnel from Ft. Dix and Maguire Air Force Base also train there.
"We are state of New Jersey Police Training Commission Certified," Abel Kahn said. "The police academies can come here and train."
The brothers will be in Japan for 10 days in November to train members of a Marine division, he said. Not to worry, 15 instructors will continue teaching the 250 students while they're gone. The brothers also go to Israel twice a year to train and Israeli experts come to the New Jersey center as well, he said.
You don't have to be in good shape to learn Krav Maga, but the nine-month program helps develop your muscles, he said.
"Our students are all ages, sizes and physical abilities," he said. "Tall ones, short ones, thin ones and round ones. It's for everybody. The range of the students goes from the soccer mom to the law enforcement officer." Students hail from as far away as New York and Philadelphia, and all parts of New Jersey.
The program is not for young children. No on younger than 14 years old is permitted to train, he said, except through summer camp demonstration programs.
"Women also train with men," Kahn said. "If somebody is going to attack you, it's probably going to be a man. We have women who are being proactive with learning self-defense and women who have been attacked. And we're very sensitive to the needs of all the women."
Kathy Ross, 61, a Levittown, Pa. woman who trains at the studio, along with her husband, Bob, said Krav Maga has kept her physically active and mentally sharper.
"It has taught me self-defense and given me a lot of confidence," she said. "It's a stress reducer."
Once when the couple was on a cruise a man suddenly tried to punch and kick her husband. Bob Ross defended against both blows with Krav Maga moves and the "guy went away."
"It's a common sense way of street fighting," she said.
In addition to Gandolfini, who famously played Tony Soprano, another famous student is singer John Mayer, Kahn said.
"It's about self-defense and self-preservation, but fitness is a key byproduct," Kahn added. "You're training very hard. You're getting a good sweat. You're using muscles you wouldn't ordinarily use in any sort of weight-lifting regime. And you're having fun while you're training not knowing that you're working out. People love it. It's a family community here. There's a real sense of comraderie."
Kahn, who grew up in Princeton and still lives there, majored in history and anthropology in Johns Hopkins. When not practicing and teaching Krav Maga, Kahn, a bachelor, plays in an ice hockey league.
For more information: www.israelikrav.com
