On December 11, 2008 Mike Lee Kanarek was featured in Martial Arts Times. Heres is an excerpt from the article. To read the full article click here.
HaganaH, the evolution of Israeli Martial Arts. Mike Lee Kanarek will explain to you what HaganaH is when you walk in to his school.
Forty one year old Mike Lee Kanarek was originally born in Saigon, Vietnam. His mother was Vietnamese and his father was an American soldier fighting in the War. Because of his half breed status, Kanarek was not accepted, so he was given up for adoption. Kanarek was adopted by a Jewish family and raised in Belgium. He lived in Brussels until he was ten years old, when he and his family moved to Israel.
Kanarek was six years old when he started taking up the martial arts. He first learned judo, but when he moved to Israel there was no one who taught judo, so he took karate. He was also introduced to the Israeli martial art system known as Krav Maga. He later on entered the the Israeli military where he received combat training.
Kanarek explained to me that HaganaH is more of a military system than a martial art system, but it falls into the martial arts category because the training people get in self defense and street application.
Kanarek’s mentor in the martial arts was none other than the former World Heavy weight Kickboxing Champion Joe Lewis. Joe has been credited as one of a few people who brought us full-contact karate. Joe Lewis was one of the reasons Kanarek came to America. He has trained with Lewis for over seventeen years.
Because of his military and special forces background, Kanarek views martial arts at an intelligence gathering level.
“Any military person will tell you that intelligence gathering is the key element to the success of a mission. I view martial arts at an intelligence gathering level.”
Kanarek’s example is when he wanted to have good hands, he went to Joe Lewis for training. When he wanted to learn grappling, he went to the Machado Brothers to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
To read the full article click here.