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Israeli UFC fighter Natan Levy taught a self-defense class at Harvard Chabad on Wednesday evening — an effort by the Jewish campus organization to equip students and affiliates with self-defense techniques amid rising concerns about antisemitism at the University.
Levy, an ambassador for StandStrong — a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching self-defense mechanisms to threatened communities — taught defensive techniques like rear push kicks, jab crosses, and wrist grabs during the roughly hour-long class under Chabad’s outdoor tent.
Harvard Chabad President and Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi said that the training program was timely and important for affiliates “at a time when there’s sadly such an increase in hate directed towards the Jew and Israel.”
“There’s a perception that Jews are physically weak,” Zarchi added. “We need strong Jews.”
The class comes as many Jewish students have reported feeling unsafe at Harvard. Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the University has seen a series of anonymous antisemitic acts including posters hung around campus and posts on an anonymous student forum. Last week, a freshman student said she had been the victim of a hate crime after a mezuzah, a traditional Jewish object, went missing from her doorway.
“It’s a great initiative,” Alexander L.S. Bernat ’25, a co-president of Chabad’s student board, said of the class. “Certainly, I know a lot of people have expressed concerns about feeling physically safe on campus at points.”
“I was not among them, but I think it’s an issue that does speak to a lot of Jewish students, particularly Jewish students who are more religious and more visibly religious,” added Bernat, a Crimson Editorial editor.
During the class, Matt J. Travers, the CEO of StandStrong, demonstrated techniques that attendees could use to de-escalate tense and potentially unsafe situations. He specifically referenced the possibility of violence at pro-Israel or pro-Palestine protests — the latter of which have swept Harvard’s campus since Oct. 7.
“You can get control of a situation using skill and de-escalation, showing I'm not a victim, but I don’t want to fight,” he said in an interview.
The Chabad class was the debut of a series of courses in the Boston area. StandStrong, founded in 2019 amid reports of rising antisemitism in the U.S., typically teaches a six-course training program free of charge.
“We have schools reach out to us. We have youth groups. We’ll have synagogues, churches, mosques say, ‘Hey, can we do this?’” Travers said.
Levy, who boasts an 8-2 record in UFC and bears the nickname “Lethal,” made headlines for trouncing a white supremacist troll who challenged him to a fight last year. He said the courses are meant to “teach people to stand strong, to show confidence, to be proud of who they are, to never be ashamed of who they are and where they came from.”
“The main goal is to make everybody feel safe,” he said. “We want, again, everybody to be confident in their skin.”
—Staff writer Aisatu J. Nakoulima can be reached at aisatu.nakoulima@thecrimson.com.
