As a child I always had a strong romantic interest in martial arts and fighting. I always got into fights, since I remember myself. The first important “discovery” I made in this area, happened to me around the age of 5. I had a main “enemy”, a kid my age that was strong and quick and mean. He used to beat me up once a day at least! One day, an older friend of mine whispered in my ear: “next time scratch his ear with your fingernails”. Next time I did! and celebrated my first victory. I realized there was much knowing to fighting.

A couple of years later I was my little neighborhood’s bully. One afternoon I was busy beating up one of my friends. A much older neighbor (much admired by us for strength and toughness) started coaching my rival in the art of boxing. He showed him how to cover his face and counter punch. At first I did not pay attention, the other guy was my push over for too long. And then he started winning! Every time I approached him, to hurt him. He would cover his face and punch me hard in the face. I took about 10 punches to the nose before giving up that afternoon. I realized again that there was much knowing to fighting.

Later I started hearing about Judo and really wanted to find out more. But I also started getting this message from my mother: “this is nonsense. You should concentrate on really important things”. I guess I was a good son, because I listened, and for years avoided following my heart to the martial arts.

In 1975 I arrived in California to go to Graduate school in Berkeley. One of the things I immediately noticed, was the availability of an infinite opportunity to engage in the study of martial arts. And the legitimacy! Imagine “university” courses in martial arts!. So I knew that this time I was going to give myself a chance. I talked to a neighbor about it and the fact that I do not know how to pick a martial art. He said: “Aikido!” and gave me Koichi Tohei’s booklet.

So I joined an Aikido club on campus. It was strange. The club was weak, few students, not much energy in the classes. Still I remained interested. About a month after I started going to classes, my Israeli girlfriend gave a party. In the party, I bragged about Aikido and my martial prowess. In the middle of bragging, I felt a light tap on my shoulder, and a quite voice whispered in my ear: “you do not really know much about Aikido, do you? If you are interested, I’ll take you to a good school”. I joined the guy on a sofa, we talked some. I ended up joining David O’Neill’s aikido school in SF. I stayed there a couple of month and ended up moving to Bruce Klickstein’s Oakland Aikido Institute. I stayed there until '82. I spent about three years living in the dojo as an Uchi Deshi. I use to train about 7 hours a day Monday through Saturday and only one class on Sunday for years. I discovered my heart. I met Frank Doran Sensei and Bob Nadeau Sensei.

In 1982 I went back to Israel. I knew I was going to teach Aikido in Israel. I knew I wanted to open a dojo right in the middle of Tel-Aviv. I just did not know how it could happen. I did not have a plan! One day, about a week after arriving in the country, I went strolling in the middle of Tel-Aviv looking around and fantasizing about opening a dojo. Suddenly, I noticed a Karate school. I stepped in to look. The teacher left his students on the mat (he had a judo mat!) and approached me. “What can I do for you?” he said. I replied: “I’m an Aikido instructor, and…”’. He would not let me finish my sentence, he said: “you are looking for a place to teach in”. I said: “yes!”. He said: “Here”. And so I put and add in a major newspaper and two weeks after arriving in the country had a club with ten students.

In 1987, I became Frank Doran’s student and have been following him as my teacher ever since.

The club grew in size and we moved a couple of times. Eventually we opened our first permanent dojo in 1986 when our group was already about 50 students strong. The dojo continued to grow. In 1990 we moved to the current location of Aikido Tel-Aviv. In 1991 I founded the non profit organization “Aikido Israel” and donated Aikido Tel-Aviv to it. I continued to teach and lead Aikido Israel until I left the country in 1997 to go back to California. I also co-founded Aikido Jerusalem with three friends and students. I also helped another friend and student start Aikido in Haifa.

In 1998, in California, greed took over. I started a SW company together with a former student of mine and for five years stopped doing Aikido altogether.

I went back to practicing in 2003 with my then 10 years old daughter who insisted on starting Aikido. Frank Doran sensei allowed us to train together in the adults classes. I had great fun. In the five years break, I lost a lot of luggage. When I went back to Aikido I came back cleaner, and rediscovered the pleasure in Aikido. I have been having great fun since.

I went back to Israel at the end of 2004 and started a new dojo, Aikido-Carmel in a small town close to the City of Haifa. We currently have a mixed group of students, three of my oldest students (have been studying Aikido for about 20 years), one Nidan from New York who moved to Israel and brand new beginners from the neighborhood. We also have a small children group (ages 9 – 12) and are planning to open a new children group for ages 12 – 15.

The scene in Israel changed a lot. There are about 60 – 70 Aikido schools and clubs. Many of them are headed by former students of mine. Many of them have adopted new teachers abroad since I left. There are international workshops almost every month. Some Hombu dojo teachers have been coming to the country for 13 years now, regularly, every year.

I am still having a great fun.

My most Memorable Aikido Experience
(How I did not become Mother Theresa)
Usually people tell about their successes. I would like to tell about my greatest failure. In 1990 I moved Aikido Tel-Aviv to an old neighborhood. The neighborhood was and largely still is made up of a mixture of sweatshops and crowded apartment blocks. Soon after re-opening the dojo in the new neighborhood, I started a children class for children ages 9 – 12. The neighborhood kids came. I got sons and daughters of prostitutes, drug dealers pimps and just hard up people. It was a trying experience. And I made two mistakes. One a small methodological mistake and the other colossal, of the type you can never correct. The classes were hard. The beginning usually went alright and the kids seemed to have fun. Approximately 45 minutes into the class, I started to have difficulties controlling the class and the whole character of it would change drastically. I would be faced with hardened juvenile delinquents who obeyed no rules and had no mercy. That was tough. Only years later I realized that even well behaved and well mannered kids have a hard time staying focused for longer than 45 minutes. I simply failed to notice that class was over. That was my first mistake. The second, I also realized years later, was that I failed to notice the one occasion when my Aikido teaching could really make a difference in people’s lives. I gave the kids class up after about six months. Because I had to go and get a normal job and my afternoons became occupied with the job. I would give up a lot of jobs, today, if I could again make that much difference in somebody’s life through Aikido.


Article: "What is Aikido?"