My first Haganah class

I took my first Haganah class in the middle of December. Within minutes of it starting, I was being instructed on how to disarm an assailant who had a semiautomatic pistol jammed into my back (watch a video of it being done by Haganah Master Mike Lee Kanarek). The pistol is a blue, rubber dummy, but the training is all the same, real gun or fake. 

The concept of the gun disarm is simple: get out of the line of fire and gain possession of the pistol by “short circuiting” your assailant. The concept is simple, but mastering it isn’t. I was in over my head. Since I was starting at the end of the year, I was jumping in when the more advanced tactics were being taught.

Everyone in my group had been through the gun disarm before and moved through the drill with smoothness and efficiency. Then came my turn. It wasn’t pretty.

 The instructor kept telling me to drive my elbow farther into my assailant’s face. Even going at half speed and not connecting to inflict injury, I found this hard to obey. My attacker was a high school girl much smaller than me. It’s difficult to muster the required violence when your attacker smells nice and wears a pony tail. However, that kind of thinking has to be dispensed with. The reality is that this girl, armed or unarmed, could knock my teeth out and make me walk with a limp for the rest of my life.

Now, after having about 6 classes under my belt, the concepts of Haganah are starting to sink in and learning the moves is becoming easier. Still, it's a lot of information that I have to absorb. I find myself going through the moves in my head as I lay in bed at night.

I’m getting way ahead of myself. First, I need to explain what Haganah is.