Krav Maga Instructors
Krav Maga Yashir Head Instructor - Gershon Ben Keren
Krav Maga Yashir’s Head Instructor is 5th Degree Black Belt, Gershon Ben Keren. He has been training and teaching Krav Maga since 1993. He was originally an instructor under the IKMF (International Krav Maga Federation), having completed his instructor training under Eyal Yanilov and Amnon Darsa. He has trained in Israel and Europe with many of Imi Lichtenfeld’s original black belts, including Haim Zut, Avi Moyal, Gabi Noah, Miki Assulin and Haim Gidon. As well as holding a 5th Degree Black Belt in Krav Maga, he also holds a 3rd Degree Black Belt and instructor certification in Hisardut, a system of fighting/combat that is taught to elite units and special forces in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force). He has taught Krav Maga internationally in Israel, Europe the US, and Africa. He has also written three Amazon best-selling books on Krav Maga (Tuttle Publishing) and in 2010 was inducted into the Museum of I sraeli Martial Arts in Herzliya, Israel. Since 2012 he has been writing the “Krav Maga Blog”, which is updated weekly, and when news events warrant it, more , and frequently. He now runs Krav Maga Yashir, just under five miles from the center of Wilmington, Massachusetts. He regularly returns to Israel to train, and brings Krav Maga instructors from Israel to teach seminars at his school.
Gershon has been working in the security industry since 1990. Initially working in pub, bar and club security as a doorman. Since then he has worked in a variety of roles including close protection, surveillance and counter surveillance, along with risk management and mitigation. He has completed a wide range of courses and certifications concerning private security, many of which were with the Pheonix Group. His security work has seen him travel internationally and work for a variety of clients in the business and entertainment industries. He continues to provide training to professionals working in the security industry.
Gershon has always kept up to date with academic research that studies crime and violent offending. He holds two master’s degrees: one in psychology (distinction - Newcastle University) and another in criminology and criminal psychology (distinction – University of Essex). He continues to engage in research and is an active member of the ASC (American Society of Criminology), the APA (American Psychological Association), and the IACA (International Association of Crime Analysts). His main area of research is that of environmental criminology i.e., the study of the environmental factors, such as time and space, which create and enable incidents of crime – especially violent crime – to occur. Rather than guess or speculate as to how violent incidents occur, or rely solely upon his personal experiences, taking a researched and evidential approach, allows the solutions to violence that are taught at Krav Maga Yashir, to have a solid basis and foundation.
The Krav Maga Yashir syllabus is based on authentic Israeli Krav Maga and teaches a contextual approach to violence i.e., not every aggressive and potentially violent situation is the same and therefore shouldn’t necessarily be handled and navigated in the same way e.g., a person’s motive for putting a knife to your throat may differ from incident to incident; a person may be trying to get you to handover your wallet or trying to force you to move to a different location, or simply pulled their knife in an act or rage, without having an actual goal/end-game in mind. By using evidential research, filtered through experience, we are able to provide both the education and tools for understanding violence and selecting the appropriate solution(s). If you are interested in training with us, you can attend one of our beginner classes by clicking the button below.