Yehoshua Sofer

Abir Template:Hebrew was the name of the fighting technique of Israelite warriors. Today, Yehoshua Sofer claims to still practice and teach a modern recreation of this martial art,. Sofer's claims of Abir being a "traditional" Jewish martial art remains a point of controversy with some as to whether this is authentic claim. Sofer is best known in the martial arts world as a master of Kuk Sool Won, a Korean martial art.

Origin of the Name and System

Abir Template:Hebrew is a Hebrew word meaning powerful, a warlord, palace guard, protector of royalty, warrior, bodyguard, or a defender. It is derived from the three letter Hebrew root Template:Hebrew, which means to soar above protectively. Biblical references for the word include the following sections of the Tanakh Genesis 49:24, Psalms 76:6, and Psalms 68:31.

While complete records with exact details of a martial art of actual moves and system of fighting forms are not extant in Judaic historical accounts, the Biblical, Midrashic, and Rabbinic accounts testifies to fighting and combat strategies used by the ancient Israelites as well as legendary depictions of Israelite combatants.

For example, According to Sefer haYashar (midrash) 56:9, it was no less than the request of Jacob on his deathbed to his son Judah that the Hebrew combat art be passed down to his progeny forever:

Template:Hebrew

Template:Hebrew

And Jacob spoke to Judah: 'I know, my son, that you are a master to your brothers and king over them, and your sons will reign over their sons forever. However, please teach your sons qashath [the Hebrew weaponless combat art] and every weapon of war, in order that they will fight the wars of their brother the king, against all his enemies.

It is regarding this timeless request of Jacob that King David, in the book of 2nd Samuel, was referring to in the opening line of his dirge over the deaths of King Saul and Jonatan his son: Template:Hebrew

17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son,

18 and said: [It is mandatory] to teach the sons of Judah qoshath—behold, it is written in the book of Yashar

The nation had just suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the Philistines, in which both king and crown prince had perished. The wise king knew the only answer was to train the army in the foundation of Hebrew warriorship, Qesheth--the tradition of the Avoth (forefathers).

This fighting tradition was the very distinguishing mark of a Hebrew from an Egyptian. When Yoseph, whose identity was unknown to his brothers, orders that Shim`on be incarcerated (Bareshith 42:18-24) and his guards attempt to seize him, Shim`on lets out a roar that utterly confounds and frightens them. Finally, Yoseph orders his own son Manashe to arrest Shim`on: Manashe deals him a blow that humbles Shim`on instantly. As he is being taken away before his astonished brothers, Shim`on calls out to them (Sepher HaYashar, parasha Miqetz):

Let none on you say that was the strike of an Egyptian; this is none other but a strike from the house of my father.

In the book of Samuel, David the son of Yishai and his men are said to have been feirce warriors able to take on hundreds of men. David's chief of the captains, Josheb-bas-sheboth killed 800 men in a battle (2 Sam. 23:8). Another commander, Abishai, killed 300 men in a fight (2 Sam. 23:18), and Jashobeam, another "mighty man" of David, killed 300 in one battle (1 Chron. 11:11).

Post Biblical Accounts

According to a number of accounts there have been for some time Middle Eastern and Asian Jewish communities who were either known for their fighting prowess or were said to have maintained specific fighting techniques dating back to either the 1st Commonwealth or 2nd Commonwealth of Israel.

A former senior leader of the Waqf stated:

It is known also that most of the first guards of Al Aqsa when it was built were Jews. The Muslims knew at that time that they could not find any more loyal and faithful than the Jews to guard the mosque and its compound. They knew that the Jews have a special relation with this place.

The Habbani Jews, Southern Yemen

File:Abdullah Habbani guards.jpg

Abdullah I of Jordan with his Habbani Jewish bodyguards Sayeed, Salaah, and Saadia Sofer, c. 1922.

In 1912 Zionist emissary Shmuel Yavnieli came into contact with Habbani Jews who ransomed him when he was captured and robbed by eight Bedouin in southern Yemen. Yavnieli wrote about the Jews of Habban describing them in the following way.

The Jews in these parts are held in high esteem by everyone in Yemen and Aden. They are said to be couragous, always with their weopons and wild long hair, and the names of their towns are mentioned by the Jews of Yemen with great admiration.

There are a number of legends about the origins of the Jews of Habban. The most prominent is that they descend from Judeans who were stationed in southern Arabia by King Herod of Jersualem during the Second Temple Period. Herod dispatched a unit of Jews in the region to assit the Romans with fighting wars in the area. Unlike the Jews of northern Yemen the Habbani Jews wore: Jambiyya (curved knife), Matznaph (turban) and Avne`t (sash). It was also common for the Sultans of Arabia to use Habbani Jews as soldiers in their armies or as personal guards.

The Mountain Jews of Daghestan

Main article: Mountain Jews

Armed Mountain Jewish men, c. 1900 (1905-06 Jewish Encyclopedia)

And we, the Tats

We, Samson warriors,

Bar Kochba's heirs...

we went into battles

and bitterly, heroically

struggled for our freedom

The Song of the Moutain Jews

The Jews of Daghestan lived isolated and in one of the most remote, impenetrable areas in the world for many centuries. They have been historically known for their feirce and war-like nature. In dress and custom they were hardly distinquishable from other Caussian fighting people in the region. Though they consider dhimmi by they surrounding Muslim population, the Mountain Jews owned land were known to be feirce not hesitating to defend, by sword or the riffle, their family, religion, or personal dignity.

The Jews of Daghestan greatly resemble the other warlike inhabitants of this mountainous region; and they have acquired the virtues as well as the faults of the latter. There is a tradition among the Jews of Daghestan that they are the descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes; but the history of their wanderings is now forgotten, the written documents which they once possessed having in the course of time been either lost or destroyed. They differ from their Christian and Mohammedan neighbors in speech, using the Tat language, which is a combination of Persian and Hebrew. Their writing is a mixture of square characters and Rashi. They wear the Circassian dress, and always go heavily armed, even sleeping without having removed their weapons.

It is possible that the Mountain Jews are descendants of Persian-Jewish soldiers who were stationed in the Caucasus by the Sasanian kings in the fifth or sixth century to protect the area from the onslaughts of the Huns and other nomadic invaders from the east. Under the impact of the invading Turkic hordes, later generations of Jewish inhabitants of the Caucasian lowlands were forced to migrate even further north to Daghestan.

The Jews of Tirdirma, Mali

According to a West African Arabic record called the Tarikh el-Fetash, in 1402 in Tiridirma near the Niger river lived a community of Jews known as the Bani Israeel who were said to have seven rulers, 333 wells, and a well trained army. The record suggests that their presence in the area proceeded the rise of Islam.

The Creator of the Modern Abir: Yehoshua Sofer

According to the official Abir web-site, Grandmaster Yehoshua Sofer is known and discussed in higher circles of the martial arts, military, law enforcement, and intelligence communities in Israel and elsewhere in the world with much respect. He holds 7th Degree black belts in Korean Kuk Sool Won, Hapkido and a 6th Degree black belt in TukGong Musool (designed for elite military and intelligence agents in S.Korea) and has a very wide range of diverse expertise in various aspects of "cold" combat that few come close to matching.

The web-site further states about Sofer:

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of his background is his knowledge of Native Israelite Warrior Arts secretly kept alive in bits and pieces by some of the world's most hidden ancient Jewish communities. These techniques were those used by his Israelite ancestors and this is documented in The Torah.

It would simply not be fair to compare other people to him because he has 42 years in martial arts training although he is just 45 years old. His physical skill is not overshadowed by his experience and knowledge. But his ability to take people with little or no combat background and transform them into formidable fighting proponents in a very short time frame is what perhaps separates him from all others.

He has several world leaders' personal protection/security personnel under his instruction and guidance from the President of Moldova to the Prime-Minister of Israel. He often oversees high profile events from behind the scenes. Sofer is a Hasidic Jew which is another factor that makes him totally unique in his field. He simply does not look like a martial artist capable of neutralizing people twice his size instantly with pain compliance techniques.

It is further stated that Yehoshua Sofer's Grandfather Nachman Sofer played with him from the age of three indoctrinating him with games based on the Sofer family style Hevron and Hejaz Abir. This training included the use of Shootnah, Karkour, Paziza, heavkuth, kunfoon, Keshet, Herev Rahav (Middle Eastern Broad Sword), slingshot, javelin, nabuta, maagal and the maaraf. Nachman Sofer Nachman is said to have acquired wrestling and Korean ‘Jujitsu’ while serving in an infantry/horseman's unit of the Russian Army after being accosted while on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. He was held against his own free will for five years until his escape. These were the skills he sought to pass on in secret as tradition dictated until a proper time in the future.

Abir Aluf - Yehoshua Sofer's Proffessional Creditials

• Creator/founder of Abir Native Israelite Warrior Arts
• Official 6th Degree black belt Kuk Sool Won,Hapkido and Tukgong Musool
• Regional Director of the World Kido Federation, of the Hanminjok Hapkido Hae and the Korea Kuksool Association in Israel and the European Continent
• 3rd Degree black belt Taekwondo(WTF/ITF), Taesoodo and Tangsoodo
• Instructor of elite Israeli Defence Forces units
• Instructor of the Israeli Knesset Guard
• Israel National Police(RPK) Security Instructor
• Guest Instructor of ALPHA/SPETSNAZ, Berkut and Oman elite forces, and the Ukraine

The Sofer Family

The Sofer family has a tradition that, following the wars of Bar Kokhba, their ancestors lived in Piq'in near Tiberias for one thousand years, and at the time of the Crusades, moved to Hevron, where they lived for another one thousand years, some of them moving back and forth between Israel and Yemen all the while. This is substantiated by two photographs the Abir has: one is that of his uncles in the 1920's, who lived in Hevron, in service of the Khalif of Jordan (not far away). The other, from only a few years earlier, is of his grandfather's brother, was in Oman (just next to Habban), in service of the son of the Sultan.

Members of the Sofer family moved between Jerusalem and Habban in eastern Aden. They also had members cities like Baidha, which are known to have lighter-skinned Jews among them. They even on occasion have fair hair and eye color. Baidha is famous for it's lighter skinned people in general. "Baidha" actually means "white" in Yemeni arabic.

Nachman Sofer and his youngest son, Ya`aqov Mosha, Yehoshua Sofer's father, left the region for Jamaica (another former British colony) following the Hevron massacres of 1929, in which two of his uncles were murdered. From there they would move to the United States and later back to Israel.

Yehoshua Sofer's Abir Concept

Sofer's Abir martial art form is based on fighting techniques that he learned from his grandfather and father. The history of these techniques is the idea that at one time ancient Israel had a martial art form, which was both hand to hand and also weoponized in nature. As with any other fighting style these techniques were both borrowed and learned from the various cultures that the ancient Israelites came into contact with as well as created using their own religious and cultural symbols. The theory then is that the spiritual motivation of the fightning style was based on Biblical principles just as some martial arts are centered around Buhhdist principles. It is believed that while most Jewish communities did not continue to train in this group of fightning techniques that some exotic Jewish communities in Arabia and in parts of Asia were able to maintain elements of the techniques, which for some became elements of Jewish dance.

According to the Abir web-site:

The Twelve Tribes Principles and The Ten Emanations (These are very esoteric and intricate educational tools to understand the nature of combined movement and force in an application of the other principles directed into specific points of energy, mass or “targets” as well as the use of telepathy and hypnosis to direct or disable one's adversary)

This science as described in great depth in sources found throughout The Holy Torah are taught to “performers” of Abir, who regardless of their background in Jewish study and Torah Life, commitment/observance (or the lack of these) can begin training in this dance form that houses a deadly form…or formless system of self defense that is as effective today as it was in defeating the ancient military forces of Median, Ai, Eglon, Lah’ish, Canaanim, Khittim, Amorim, Prizim, Yebusim and Girgashim.

An Abir can be viewed as one who defends the palace that houses the Neshama (the soul), the Ruah (spirit), and the Gouf (physical body) within a circumference that is called one's Dalled (four) Amoth (designated spaces used as measurements) as commanded by G-d to defend; because inside a true Abir is housed a living Torah, for through it's study the Abir seeks to internalize it's wisdom, to become holy, pure, and to exemplify the very virtues that indeed describe the Abir of Israel that comprises the initials of this ancient Hebrew word (Aleph, Bet, Yod, Resh).

Sofer's approach is based on combining the following elements.

• Judaic principles found in the Torah
• Historical references to wars and warriors in the Tanakh
• Ancient Hebrew letters as methods of categorizing the techniques.
• Philophsical principles and movements based on symbols surrounding the 12 Tribes of Israel.
• Jewish communities who are known to have had a figting style (Habbani Jews and Daghestani)
• Jewish dances from various exotic or ancient communities.

Abir Techniques and Principles

Yehoshua Sofer's Abir techniques profess a number of styles and techniques, many of which are based on elements of Judaic principles and symbolic elements. These elements have been combined into a group of systems that Sofer feel are unique to Abir.

Recoil Principle

It maintains that every return action of a limb returns as if propelled by the laws of gravity toward the torso with greater speed and virtually no stress in direct opposition to the same limbs stressful energy employed to launch an attack directed away from the torso. Recoil attacks are therefore the preferred choice of attack since they are stealth weapons which strike the indefensible anterior zone at the opponent’s hind or blindside while positioned directly in front of them face to face.

The Haetz-Lula’ah (Arrow-loop)

Full- circle/never-lock striking with the arms or legs This is a totally unique method of striking. Use of the arm/leg as the striking surface is not limited to a specific area of the hand/foot but actually employs any surface from the fingers/toes to the elbow/knee at any angle along its circumference.

A strike can be initiated at point zero with the fingers pressing into the opponents liver only to curl in thus striking in deeper with the back hand and pressing consistently deeper as it flows into a driving lateral elbow strike across the gallbladder and pericardium to the spleen points in one circular scooping motion. Conversely, this attack which was executed with the right arm directed right to left could have equally been initiated at point zero with the elbow at the opponent’s kidney or liver culminating with the fingers in a left to right motion. Limbs stick to the never-lock principle to avoid joint damage due to hyperextension. The Arrow when launched as a frontal attack is actually vertical or horizontal and travels in a broad or narrow circle as opposed to the classical front kick which snaps between two stopping motions and moves in a short half circle if we look at it from the side view. The classical front kick and the side kick, whether snapping or thrusting, come to two full stops along the way to their completion and endanger the knee joint by exposing it to hyperextension when the leg is locked straight at the end of its trajectory. Another danger is encountered when such techniques are aimed at higher target zones as the body is placed in a very compromising balancing act that exposes the groin to counterattack, and the lower back to severe injury when and if impact is made. When contact with its target is missed there is even more danger of tearing the muscles ligaments or tendons.

With The Arrow, the leg never fully extends or hyper extends since it is never theoretically straightened. From the very initiation of each wipping circular motion, The Arrow never stops. On the contrary, it continues to build momentum and speed and can strike its target with virtually any part of the leg from the knee down to the toes depending only on the distance from the opponent and whether contact is made on the more vertical, horizontal or lateral phase of its circular axis. The ball of the foot, instep, inner or outer blades of the feet, ankle, shins or knee are all satisfactory striking surfaces as are the back, sides, and bottom of the heel when striking at various angles, to the sides or to the rear. The leg need not be stretched out since care is taken not to straighten the leg and full power is only achieved when the Arrow is launched with total relaxation. In fact, the act of releasing this deadly weapon tends to relax the limbs while strengthening them and gaining flexibility and mobility of the muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints with each additional execution. Ruakh Khayuth or Life -spirit pumped into the limb directed by Rahtson (guiding will) is all that is needed to launch this deadly weapon in an instant with maximum power.

Three, the Seven Categories of Alphabetical Attacks

The Hebrew Alphabet consists of 22 consonants and five word ending letters bringing them to a total of 27 letters in all that are assigned 7 special categories.

They are;

• Choking
• Locking
• Throwing
• Take downs
• Primary initiated attacks or
• Secondary responsive attacks and
• a natural flowing blend consisting of any two of these six categories or any one or more combined with another letter

This gives us a unique and familiar way to quickly assimilate complex dynamic martial arts combat techniques using these most familiar visual memory tools that give us 189 techniques. These 189 techniques are then learnt in conjunction with an additional 176 techniques that are designed to solve the most commonly encountered types of attacks with effective counters to various applications of those same seven categories performed on us .This gives us 365 techniques in all. This number coincides with the number of bones on the human skeleton and the number of days of a year. This is very significant and is the number of techniques required to achieve Smikha (the ABIR® Instructor level)

Smikha level

The Musmakh (Instructor) refines his skills by learning an additional 248 techniques corresponding to the number of organs within the human body. This gives us the total of 613 (Taryag) techniques that correspond to the 613 positive and negative precepts that Jews must observe and keep in accordance with Jewish Law as required of us by The Creator in the Torah

18 Khai Rikudim

These are the 18 choreographed fighting dances that tie together the 12 tribes movement and fighting attributes (12 weaponless and 6 weapons forms) necessary to master Abir's 613 techniques. These 613 can be built upon to incorporate thousands more and are a mere guide to the keys behind achieving a balanced harmonious life steeped in holiness and purity with an integrated mastery of ones spiritual and physical matter (or khomer) embodying the virtues that make up the initials of an Abir.

Video Clips of Abir

• Abir Warrior Arts on prime-time cable news(Arutz10) [1]
• Abir Warrior Arts,The Rav Zamir Cohen clip [2]
• Abir ragua negged jabim [3]
• Abir Warrior Arts vs. frontal leg attacks # 1 [4]
• Abir Warrior Arts-Tribe of Dan twin snake arm form [5]
• Abir Grandmaster Yehoshua Sofer - relaxed demo in the park 2 [6]
• Strangle Techniques [7]
• Abir - Lion dance [8]

• Abir web-site Video's and Photo Galleries [9]

Beit Abir Locations

Beit Abir Jerusalem

234 Jaffa Rd.

Jerusalem, Israel

(located between the Bezeq Store, the central bus station and ministry of infrastructure and water)

Tel. 972-52-672 0333

e-mail admin@abirwarriorarts.com

Beit Abir Tel Aviv

Maccabee Tel Aviv Sports Club

Rechov Hamaccabee 4, Tel Aviv

(Located on the "Maccabee" parking lot between Tchernikovski and King George Streets.)

Class Schedules

Classes are held every Sunday and Wednesday evening, men from 19.30-21.05 (7:30-9:05 p.m.) women from 21:15-22:30 (9:15-10:30 p.m.).

Mailing address for Beit Abir, Israel and World Abir® Associations;

Beit Abir

P.O.box 8049

Jerusalem 90180 Israel

See also

• Yemenite Jews
• Mizrahi Jews
• Jewish exodus from Arab lands
• Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa)