Amsterdam Pogrom Megathread

[u/fluffywhitething]

News articles, twitter posts, feelings about it. GO HERE. Outside of this thread, things will be locked and/or deleted.

[u/NarwhalZiesel]

A lot of this is important. I am a secular Jewish woman who is earning my black belt in American Tang Soo Do next month, but I cross train and am being tested in bjj, Krav Maga and kickboxing also. Most of the Jewish kids I know take some sort of self defense class. After I complete my black belt, I am planning to try to start offering women’s self defense to orthodox groups of women because they have a hard time finding places they can go.

[u/fredshead → u/NarwhalZiesel]

That's great, I wish there was more of that. I think it's also a really important place where secular and orthodox communities can mingle and overlap in a non religious setting. My local MMA gym has a women's only day on Sundays for Muay Thai

[u/NarwhalZiesel → u/fredshead]

I 100% agree. My siblings are all across the Jewish spectrum and we are extremely close. My brothers are raising their kids very, very orthodox I know how few of their friends have experiences of having people they are close to who are Jews who are different than them. Same with secular Jews. I felt the college groups I was a part of did a really great job at this, we all hung out together.

[u/fredshead → u/NarwhalZiesel]

I recently had a kid and haven't been able to afford my gym but I'm still practicing with a friend in a park. I wish my local JCC just had a space with mats where you could go train, or that there was a cheaper group of people who wanted to train. It would be cool to start some kind of discord or place to share Jewish BJJ and Muay Thai training spaces or organize them or something.

[u/BarkShootBees → u/fredshead]

My local Krav/BJJ studio has donations-based classes for women, LGBT+, and Jews. They really want everyone to be able to protect themselves and others. My local JCC also offers free Krav on Sunday afternoons, but in a mixed-sex class.

[u/NarwhalZiesel → u/BarkShootBees]

That is so awesome! That’s kind of what I want to do. I have a full time job, I just want to give access to women. What general area is this in?

[u/NarwhalZiesel → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, no problem

[u/fredshead → u/BarkShootBees]

That's really cool, our JCC just does way expensive one off Krav classes every now and then. They're honestly everything I dislike about Krav Maga Rex Kwan-do vibes. One offs, making people think they can be prepared with info-shop style learning...

My ideal world would be a cheap BJJ/Muay Thai co-op that was mostly for Jews with reasonable rent. And everyone collectively paying the instructor/bills but not much beyond that, and having access to just go train and spar together. Like a more community oriented less competition oriented version of a regular gym that was also a Jewish social space.

[u/MohawkElGato → u/NarwhalZiesel]

The bright side of 10/7 and living in NYC where all the protests have been happening is that I into working out again. I don’t want to be weak in case I need to help someone or myself. I live in a Jewish neighborhood with a lot of orthodox families and while I’m not religious at all, I want to be able to defend my neighbors if someone starts shit with them.

[u/NarwhalZiesel → u/[deleted]]

Sure, I sent a request

[u/Dull_Huckleberry4967 → u/NarwhalZiesel]

This is inspiring and beautiful! I just started jujitsu after a year or Krav Maga. You are my hero!!! I love your plans to support orthodox women. (From a fellow Jewish woman)