Iconic Boxing Institute in Brooklyn began offering self-defense lessons due to rising anti-Semitism • Moderator - Yuri Froman, Israeli and former World Boxing Champion

• Foreman // Photo: Reuters

The Brooklyn New York Boxing Institute, where the world's greatest boxers, including Mohammed Ali and Mike Tyson, are currently training Jews to practice defensive measures against rising anti-Semitism. The guide is no different from a former Israeli boxer, the lightweight to middleweight champion in 2009, who is now also a rabbi.

The rabbi in question is Yuri Forman. At age 9, he immigrated from Belarus to Israel. A little over a decade later, in 2002, a medium-weight professional boxing career began, and was considered one of the best boxers in the world. About his own Wikipedia is said to be one of the three best Jewish boxers in the world. In November 2009, he was crowned World Champion of the WBA Lightweight Association, but lost a title a year later.

At the same time as his boxing career, he developed a completely different kind of career - when he began to study rabbinate and was ordained to the rabbi in 2014. "Growing up, as a person and a warrior, I realized I needed some spiritual center to get things done," he told the New York Times about two years ago. "I needed an outlet - a spiritual upgrade page, so I could push myself better, channel my energy, be more present."

Against the backdrop of the heavy wave of anti-Semitism in Brooklyn, Bruce Silverglade, the owner of the Gleason Institute, one of the most iconic U.S. institutes, decided to take action and launched a training program for civilians who want to defend themselves against potential attackers.

"Once they learn how to box properly, it will give them the confidence that when something happens they can defeat it," Froman explained on a local news site called "PIX11." However, it made clear, physical contact is not always the goal. "You don't have to fight. Boxing is the perfect way to learn about controlling your body and mind."

Silverglade also noted that "if a person is taught how to control the situation, and most importantly how to control his or her fear, then he is already ahead of the game," he said. The 90-minute workout will be offered every weekend, depending on demand.