Imi lichtenfeld biography of williams
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He boarded the vessel "Pencho", which shipwrecked on the Greek Dodecanese Islands, and arrived to Palestine in 1942.
At his arrival, Israel's early leaders recognized Imi's fighting abilities and in 1944 he began training fighters in his areas of expertise: physical fitness, swimming, wrestling, use of the knife, and defenses against knife attacks.
To disseminate his method, Imi established two training centers, one in Tel Aviv and the other in Natanya. "Imi Lichtenfeld - Founder of Krav Maga." J-Grit: The Internet Index of Tough Jews. Krav maga is well received within law enforcement and military circles. Finally, he needed a system that worked, one that soldiers could apply to any situation at any time intuitively and without hesitation.
Until the World War II era, traditional self-defense techniques left soldiers ill prepared to defend against armed attackers.
He trained several elite units of the Haganah: Palmach (combat units created in 1941 who will benefit from the knowledge acquired by all the Jews involved in WWII for the British side), Palyam (marine commandos), as well as police officers. He grew up in Bratislava, Slovakia's capital, with a father who provided him quite an unusual childhood.
The method was formulated to suit everyone - men and women, boy or girl, who might need it to save their life or survive an attack while sustaining minimal harm, whatever the background of the attack - criminal, nationalistic, or other. This incident made him reflect on the attitude he wants to transmit to the students to train in good conditions and prevent injuries: “Do not try to prove who you are”.
In 1964
After retiring from the IDF, Imi began to adapt the Krav Maga to civil requirements.
Thus, Krav Maga—the world’s most effective close-quarters combat system—was born. Although Imi escaped to Palestine, his family remained behind. A student appreciates the simplicity and universal application of krav maga immediately. Imi himself has taught the best fighters of the elite units of Israel and has formed many generations of instructors of Krav Maga – for that reason, he has earned the recognition of the most senior ranks in the army.
Later,
Later, the ministry of education gave the recognition of status for the teaching of krav maga to civilians.
He teaches them physical condition for the fight, the surpassing of individual obstacles, the tactics of bayonets, the attacks of sentinels, the melee combat without weapons (Krav Maga in Hebrew), swimming, the fight with a knife and with a stick.
1948
With the birth of the state of Israel and the IDF, Imi became Chief Instructor in physical education and in Krav Maga for the army.
Imi was granted permission to remain in British-ruled Palestine. He also created the Israeli Krav Maga Association in 1978.
Even during his last years, Imi continued to personally supervise the training of those who have attained high ranks in Krav-Maga, and to spend time with the instructors in Israel and abroad. While krav maga was designed to teach soldiers to become proficient in hand-to-hand combat tactics in a short time, the same is true of krav maga's civilian adaptation.
This accident led to Imi’s fundamental training principle emphasized in his own words: “don’t get hurt.” Imi quickly concluded that only real necessity justifies a “win at all costs” approach. But in spite of their heroic efforts, the violent winds capsized their boat and they never reached Crete. In 1948 when the State of Israel was born, he became Chief Instructor for Physical Fitness and Krav Maga at the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) School of Combat Fitness.
Lichtenfeld remained with the IDF for twenty years, where he continued to refine his methods of self-defense and hand-to-hand combat.
This may include multiple strikes to the groin, throat, and kidneys, a finger planted into an eye, shouting into an attacker's ear, or a head butt or a bite to the neck. The fundamental tenets of Krav Maga are:
After he left the IDF, Lichtenfeld began adapting Krava Maga for training civilians as well as law enforcement and military.
What is Krav Maga?
What follows is a definition of Krav Maga taken directly from the website for Israeli Krav Maga, israelikrav.com:
In developing the self-defense system, survival in any situation was foremost in Imi's mind.
A British airplane spotted them and summoned a British warship to rescue them.