Ebook: Israeli Defense Force Radio Lessons

n November 1974 the Israeli Defense Force began to broadcast a weekly Awareness Through Movement® (ATM) lesson on their radio station, Galei Zahar[1]. Galei Zahar was popular with the general population, run by young soldiers, and known for being quite progressive. The weekly broadcast was the inspiration of Yuval Meskin, the son of Moshe Feldenkrais’ close friend, Aharon Meskin. Yuval would record Moshe presenting the lesson at his home on Frug Street in Tel Aviv, and then deliver the recording to the radio station to be aired on a program called Fitness Hour with Dr. Feldenkrais. Each lesson was 30 minutes long. The directors of Galei Zahar found it difficult to understand why people would be interested in ATM lessons and discussed canceling the program.

According to an account by Christian Buckhard, their lack of commitment irritated Moshe, so one day he asked his radio audience whether they wanted to continue the weekly lessons or not. The radio station got “basketfuls of letters” asking him to continue, and if possible, to do even more. Despite the public’s overwhelming support for the program, it was stopped after one year. In the early 1990s, Michél Silice-Feldenkrais (Feldenkrais’ nephew) issued 20 of the IDF lessons on cassette tapes through the Feldenkrais Institute.