Foreword

The following text was written by Onn Chen in September 2008:

"I write my work knowing that what I practice and teach further are what Imi envisioned when he created this somewhat different martial art.

If I were to describe my memories of Imi they would resume to an image of this old man visiting our dojo in Rehovot Israel, an old calm man always well dressed with a hint of satisfaction on his lips, while sitting on a chair at the entrance watching our lessons. Once in a while he would climb on the mat and walk towards one of us elegantly he would correct a thing or two and go back to his chair.

I never gave it much thought till now, his visits years ago matter now. If he had been there watching us learn and I practice what I was taught for 20 years, how can I be wrong?

Imi created a martial art which is based on survival, a direct, modest and what seems to be a simplistic art that rapidly became one of the most asked for martial arts both among civilians and military forces, due to its efficiency.

Naturally as the world grows more violent, more and more people seek to be trained in an art that would offer them a direct approach to the idea of survival and at times would be less sporty in spirit. Although it is true any martial art would help you defend yourself, while other martial arts are based on rules to prevent real damage to the opponent, Krav-Maga targets those points exactly, to cause maximum damage.

The increase in demand for Krav-Maga brought upon an increase in the number of people claiming they teach Krav-Maga, many of which neither have the slightest idea of what Krav-Maga really is and how it came about, nor do they have the source to learn from. One of the main differences between Krav-Maga and other martial arts professionally speaking is the importance given to details that make the technique useful and efficient for men and women regardless of their strength.

It is even worse, that some people who practiced Krav-Maga have changed it; weather due to their unwillingness to admit they do not remember or just to sell better. Regardless, these changes would not have been accepted by Imi who believed that you should do what you can as long as you do it the right way and certainly shouldn’t be accepted by us.

This Art has already proven itself; all we have left is to keep the technique and the spirit of Krav-Maga from changing. I hope my work helps preserve Krav-Maga in its original form."

Diplomas

The black belt diploma awarded by Yaron Lichtenstein in October 1995, in Israel. In the photo on the right Onn exemplifies the sickle kick (Beit Magal) in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2007.