Rabbi Ninja

Taking a quick break from studying the other week, I was privileged to catch up with an acquaintance of mine. This particular individual is a relatively dangerous fellow—he happens to be the self-proclaimed Sword-Karate Champion of Worcester MA. Granted that there are probably very few people who practice this ancient art from The Land of the Rising Son in my humble Central Massachusetts Town, but I think it’s a fair assessment that anyone who can keep a straight face while introducing himself as a Sword-Karate Champion is at least Steven-Segal-Dangerous on a scale of Mr. Rogers-to-Chuck-Norris-Dangerous. Anyways, this most-likely-deadly acquaintance of mine is planning on moving to Israel and making Aliyah so he was asking me if I knew a good place for him to continue his martial arts training, and it just so happens that I do…

Suffering from a critical case of Night-Before-My-Huge-Infectious-Disease-Exam-Insomnia, I sought to clear my mind with a solid dose of Internet Surfing. Once I had finished all of YouTube's clips of Charles Barkley’s Greatest Dunks, I found myself Googling “Ninja Rabbis” and was directed towards www.abirwarriorarts.com , probably the coolest website I’ve inadvertently stumbled upon at 2AM in the past three-to-four months (besides my own website which is now listed on Google...Haza!!!).

Anyways, the www.abirwarriorarts.com website is devoted to the ancient art of Abir—the official martial arts of Am Yisrael since the time of King Solomon 3000 years ago. Like other ancient traditions lost to many Jewish Communities over the course of this Exile, Abir was miraculously maintained by the Jews of Yemen. Abir is a form of martial arts that combines the grappling of Jujitsu, the striking of Tae Kwon Do, and the defensive maneuvering of Aikido. All of its moves are based on the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and the signs of The 12 Tribes. Rabbi Yehoshua Sofer—the world’s preeminent Abir Master—is a Temani Jew whose family emigrated from Yemen to Israel following years of persecution. Rabbi Sofer now lives in Yerushalayim where he runs Beit Abir : an amazing half-Yeshiva-half-Dojo institution. At his Beit Abir Academy near the Central Bus Station in Yerushalayim, Rabbi Sofer’s students study Torah and Abir in the path to becoming true Jewish Warriors—minds sharpened with Talmudic study and bodies perfected in hand-to-hand combat. I highly recommend checking out the his website and this video about Rabbi Yehoshua Sofer on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=b2aGALQqmEc

I would also like to take this as an opportunity to announce that Rabbi Yehoshua Sofer is officially nominated for Doctor Hazak’s “Toughest Jew Since Samson Award.” Stay tuned for more information about this Legendary Competition and please stop nominating Marv Albert as he is currently ineligible (though his courtside interviewing skills are impeccable he is not qualified for participation in the aforementioned prestigious competition at this time).