I am 57 years old. I am a proud Zionist Jew, born and raised in England until 1987, when my family relocated to Boca Raton. As you can imagine, Boca was a lot different back then. There were fewer people, less traffic, less congestion, and fewer restaurants. Other than three years in Ann Arbor, MI, one year in Washington, D.C. and three years in Southern California, Boca has been home. My mom and sister also live in Boca. The rest of my family lives between Miami, New York, and Washington, D.C. We lost my father on January 15, 2017. Ironically, my stepdaughter’s birthday is also January 15, so we celebrate rather than mourn that day. I know my dad would approve.
During my years in England, I experienced lots of antisemitism. I have seen my friends attacked by skinheads, I have been attacked, I’ve been spat on and
subjected to antisemitic comments. Being a Jew in England and for that matter, Europe, even in the 1980s was fraught with danger. However, I’ve always felt safe in Boca and, for the most part, every part of the United States I’ve had the privilege to visit. That, however, changed on October 7, when Israel was attacked by terrorists who stand for only one thing: the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews wherever we can be found. Since that time, college campuses all over the United States have morphed into breading grounds for antisemitism, hate, violence, civil disobedience and anti-American sentiment. When you see an individual in Michigan chanting, “Death to Israel, death to the United States,” you realize that this vial movement desires the end of our Judeo-Christian life as we know it in the United States.
As a Jew growing up in England, my father cautioned me that I would always be a potential target and at some point, I would have to learn how to defend myself and protect my family. Before becoming a student of Krav Maga (Hebrew for contact combat), I tried various martial arts (judo, mugendo, tae kwon do), but none fit the bill. While I’ve always had a profound appreciation and respect for martial arts, I searched for a system that could be learned quickly, difficult to forget, and highly effective in a street situation.
I do not want to get in a cage, a ring, or anything else to sport fight. I have spent the last 20 years training, learning and teaching street survival skills so that my family and friends could survive a violent street encounter. You don’t win in the street, you survive and that means doing whatever it takes to get home to your family and loved ones. I teach a system of controlled violence that happens to be Krav Maga. In essence, it is Krav Maga, combined with elements from other systems and other instructors, who teach excellent street skills.