Steel knife flashing and muscles straining, David Kahn lunged at Yigal Arbiv — but Arbiv moved in easily to subdue him, gripping Kahn's knife-wielding hand in his own and locking him in a chokehold.

All of it happened in a kind of dreamlike, slow-motion dance — a dance choreographed in the moment by Haim Gidon, grand master of the Israeli martial art known as krav maga.

Gidon, a 10th-degree black belt in krav maga and cofounder and president of the Israeli Krav Maga Association, guided the Kahn-Arbiv encounter during a recent 10-day visit to the Israeli Krav Maga U.S. Training Center in Hamilton. He was there doing what he does best — leading advanced classes in krav maga ("contact combat"), developed by the Israel Defense Forces for self-defense and close-quarters combat.

The 63-year-old Gidon had come to Hamilton from Netanya, Israel, at the invitation of Kahn and his brother, Abel — both krav maga experts and residents of Princeton. They established the training center about eight months ago in partnership with actor James Gandolfini, a krav maga aficionado.

The opportunity to host Gidon, the highest-ranking krav maga instructor in the world, was an honor, said David Kahn, the IKMA's chief instructor in the United States and the only American to sit on the IKMA board.

"It's such a big thing to have him come," said Kahn, who has 10 years of training with Gidon under his belt. "His expertise is in demand worldwide. He's the best of the best — an instructor's instructor."

Abel Kahn, who is also an IKMA instructor, agreed: "There's no other who can match his abilities, his talent, and his knowledge.

"Krav maga is just that much better than anything else out there," he added. "It is the most aggressive system and the quickest way to take down an attacker or an opponent. I think it's great that America is following Israel with steps for safety, for security, and for personal self-defense."

That morning, 16 krav maga specialists and instructors from the greater Mercer County region, Chicago, and Miami were in the center's training room, ready for action. Gidon led them through various steps of attack and defense, demonstrating the moves in slow motion. Arbiv, a krav maga master instructor from Netanya, served as both teaching partner and translator.

As Gidon released his students for a short break, child psychotherapist Gerry Novack of Ewing emerged from the session pumped up by the experience. On his upper arm, he bore a distinctive tattoo: Jacob wrestling with the angel and the Hebrew words of Genesis 32: "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed."

"The opportunity to train with the grand master — it's like getting anything from the source," said Novack, a member of the String of Pearls congregation in Princeton. "He's got a presence and a way about him that's straight from the source."

Also on hand as observers were two federal police commandos from the town of Selm, Germany. Detlef Linde and Joerg Beckschaefer are officers at the LAFP, a school for special forces training run by the Nordrhein-Westfalen Police.

"We have our own system, and it's highly effective," said Beckschaefer. "We are here to see other highly effective systems and to take from all systems the best things and to make the system better.

"We see a lot of good things from the Israeli program," he added, "but in Germany, our law doesn't allow us to use all the things we see. So we must take only the best things from krav maga and bring it into our system."

Hosting Gidon is just one of many activities at his center, according to David Kahn. "We were fortunate to train the executive protection unit for the governor recently — a one-day seminar," he said. "We work with the New Jersey State Police, and we just did a counter-terrorism course with the Mercer County Police Academy."

Kahn has also provided training sessions at synagogues in the region, including The Jewish Center in Princeton, and at the Center for Jewish Life at Princeton University. And he is hoping to launch a nonprofit organization to raise funds to send krav maga instructors to Jewish communities in need throughout the country.

At the same time, Kahn is working on a guide for advanced students of krav maga — a companion to his 2004 book, Krav Maga: An Essential Guide to the Renowned Method for Fitness and Self-Awareness.

"What I find so compelling about it is that it was developed to defend Jews against any kind of attack," Kahn said. He noted that the creator of krav maga, the late Imi Lichtenfeld, had once lived in Slovakia before immigrating to what was then Palestine.

"This is not a sport. It was developed on the streets of Bratislava to defend against anti-Semitic attacks," he said. "It's about using the body, its natural motions and instincts, and honing them into what I think is the most effective self-defense system in the world."

As the break neared its end, Gidon took time for a brief interview, speaking in Hebrew with Arbiv translating. "I feel at home," he said. "I have something to teach, something to show, and people like to learn and study. It's very important, and it's natural."

When he first began studying krav maga with Lichtenfeld, no one knew about the martial art, Gidon said. "They said, ‘What is krav maga? Why do you need it?'

"Imi said before he died that one day there will be a time when everyone in the world will do krav maga," he added. "Now, it's like the legacy is fulfilled."

For information about the Israeli Krav Maga U.S. Training Center, contact Kahn at 609-921-201.

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