Zev Schachter · Founder, Yeshiva Grappling League
Different ישיבות Same mat.
Grappling and self-defense for English-speaking ישיבות in Israel.
Set up a trial classYeshiva Grappling League
An outlet, not an interruption.
Bochurim train at their own ישיבה during the week and come together across ישיבות for open mats. It's a healthy physical and mental outlet, and studies show it leaves them calmer.1
Always scheduled around seder, never through it.
1 Harwood, Lavidor & Rassovsky, Aggression and Violent Behavior (Bar-Ilan University, 2017). View study
Who I Am
A few years ahead of your bochurim, on the same derech.
I spent Shana Alef at Yishrei Lev in Eretz Yisroel, and two years in Rabbi Barry Klein's chabura. In between, I spent a year as a dorm counselor at Waterbury Mesivta, where I gave a chabura on Pirkei Avos and trained at Nova União. I know what the year in Israel is. I know yeshiva life. I know what dorm energy on a Motzei Shabbos looks like.
I've trained in martial arts since I was 14: Krav Maga, Muay Thai, MMA, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Today I train with ATOS Jerusalem and the Israeli national team.
I'm not an onlooker. I'm a ben Torah who happens to compete at the highest level. I built this program for the guy I was: the one who needed this outlet and didn't have it.
— Zev
Why It Works
Mussar on the mat.
Bochurim carry real energy and real stress. Jiu Jitsu channels both into discipline, humility, and physical confidence in a structured and supervised setting inside your own walls. You tap, you learn, you get back up. No co-ed gym. No outside environment. No travel.
How It Works
You bring the space. That's it.
A park down the block, a shiur room that's free for the hour, a dining room after seder. If there's open floor, it works. I bring the mats and all the gear.
Classes run 3–6 bochurim, so everyone gets real attention.
- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
- Self-Defense
- בחורים
- Open Mats
- Discipline
- Jerusalem
- הגנה עצמית
- Confidence
- No-Gi & Gi
- Shana Alef
- ג'יו ג'יטסו
- Middos on the Mat
- Grappling
- Yeshiva Grappling League
- Jiu Jitsu for yeshiva students
- Grappling for yeshiva bochurim
- Achdus
- Eretz Yisroel
- Healthy Outlet
Where I've Trained
Twelve years on the mat.
- Krav Maga Worldwide Los Angeles. Where it started, age 14.
- 10th Planet Burbank Los Angeles. First taste of Jiu Jitsu, straight into the deep end.
- Subconscious BJJ Los Angeles. Where my game leveled up. Still my home gym when I'm back.
- Jitsu Academy, Nova União Waterbury. Where my Spider Guard and my love of Capoeira grew.
- ATOS Jerusalem & the Israeli National Team First time in the Gi, and where I train today.
Professors: Mario Alaniz, Mike Burton, Richard Bressler, Jared Carlston, Brent Burniston, Nic Gregoriades, Fabio Schucman, Ilan Schucman, Danilo Sherman, Louis Novelli.
Safety
Structured. Supervised. Injury-conscious.
Every class opens with a full warm-up and runs technique-first. Beginners drill controlled positions long before anything live, and all sparring is supervised and matched by size and experience.