After completing his military service in an elite unit and later at the Wingate Institute, Yehuda continued to teach Krav Maga, expanding his schools and leading seminars for women and female soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. By 24, when Eli Avikzar became ill, Yehuda took over his father’s schools and began training new instructors.

Following his father's death in 2004, Yehuda decided to leave KAMI after seeing changes that went against his father's principles and ethics. He closed four schools but maintained the original Krav Maga school in Netanya, where Eli and Imi taught. He then founded IMA (Israeli Martial Arts) in 2005, continuing to build on his father's legacy while innovating and improving Krav Maga techniques, making them more efficient, faster, and easier to learn.

Yehuda’s approach to Krav Maga preserves the traditional techniques while enhancing them to meet modern challenges. He teaches his father’s Krav Maga philosophy globally, remaining faithful to the ideology passed down from Imi Lichtenfeld and Eli Avikzar. His belief is that mastering Krav Maga is not only about defense but also about cultivating confidence and avoiding unnecessary conflict: "The more you know how to defend yourself, the more you know how not to fight."

In addition to his Krav Maga career, Yehuda is a multifaceted individual—he is also a surfer and a rabbi in the Rabbi Nachman von Breslov movement. In May 2024, he achieved his 10th Dan in Krav Maga, further solidifying his position as a leading figure in martial arts. He continues to lead the IMA schools and the Krav Maga Avikzar System, representing his family's legacy on the global stage.

Yehuda has also entrusted the development of his Krav Maga style in Belgium to Navez Frédéric, who is now the official representative for the country. Through his work, Yehuda continues to honor his father’s teachings, ensuring that Krav Maga remains a powerful, ethical, and effective system of self-defense.

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A little about the Krav Maga course in Yehuda's life

Yehuda Avikzer, son of Eli Avikzer, z"l, and Edith, who distinguished herself with a long life, Amen. Yehuda is the middle child between 2 daughters, Sundrin, 3rd dan, Krav Maga and a KM instructor in the IDF (who would break Yehuda down and look after him at school) and Granit, who also reached a blue belt.

Yehuda began training officially at the age of 4 in 1979 with his father, a 10th dan master, Mr. Eli Avikzer, z"l. At the age of 8, he began instructing large groups under the supervision of his father. Yehuda absorbed Eli's didacticism from a young age and was always precise in performing the techniques and his ability to explain what was being taught. Eli was always afraid that they would say that he was pushing Yehuda too far, and therefore always made it too hard for him in some ways. He moved up to his brown belt at the age of 11. Eli did not want to submit him to a black belt, but when He passed the question to the management, they agreed and at the age of 14.5 Yehuda passed the exams to become the youngest black belt in the world in Krav Maga with great success.

At the age of 15 Yehuda passed the instructor course at Wingate with great success and slowly moved up the ladder of ranks and the trainer courses from senior trainers to sports specialist. At the age of 19.5 he already had his own school in Gan Yavne.

Until the age of 29, after taking over the schools of the late Eli due to his illness, Yehuda personally ran 7 schools all week long with training and at the same time was the main Krav Maga instructor at the Wingate training school under the management of Mr. Shlomo Ben Gal.

After the passing of Eli, Yehuda underwent a huge upheaval and was forced to leave the KMI association where he grew up and developed. As a result, he was left with a handful of loyal trainees, while about 40 black belts up to 2nd dan, all of whom had studied and trained with Yehuda for years, left along with the association, and Yehuda began to re-establish his school in the name of the legacy of his late father and mother. (Always remember that there is no despair in the world at all) With his main goal to spread Krav Maga according to the explicit instructions of the late Eli, and according to the legacy of his mother, the father of Krav Maga, and Eli, the late founder of Krav Maga, Yehuda began to spread in Israel and around the world, mainly the importance of knowing the lineage of Krav Maga and in this, the appreciation of the work of the founders of Krav Maga as an organized body like the other martial arts. Today, Yehuda has active schools under his supervision and management of his senior students in Israel and abroad, and he has trained dozens of black belts up to Dani 6, some of whom are here in France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, and this is in addition to special seminars in citizenship and all security services around the world.

My mother Lichtenfeld said, act as you can, but act correctly, Eli Avikzar said, minimum defense against maximum attack, and according to a conversation with Eli, Yehuda defined that knowledge of the combat skills prevents combat.

From In 2005, Eli developed the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga Avikzer, their system, according to the knowledge he received from his late father, who upgraded, shortened, streamlined and stripped down according to the natural movements of man, the fight and according to its precise definitions, making everything accessible to all who wish to learn and discover that truly everyone can.

9 years ago he began writing complete lesson plans with complete techniques that are interconnected and streamline each other. 6 years ago he began to break down the biomechanical movements of the techniques and wrote the wonderful book that is now being printed in 3 parts.

1. A biography of the life of his father, 10th Dan Master Eli Avikzer, z"l.
2. The conditioning of Krav Maga, which you have tasted only a tiny part of today in training
3. The connection between the movements and the thoughts behind them in the work of the body, mind and mindset of Krav Maga to the point of daily application in our lives.