The Real Van Damme

Frank Dux – the one who inspired the movie which inspired a generation

Born to Holocaust survivors in Toronto, Frank Dux (b. 1956) started studying martial arts at an early age. Moving to California, he caught the eye of such warrior greats as Senzo Tanaka and Bruce Lee. These connections bought him an invitation to the Kumite, a secret once-in-five-years fighting mega event. Because the Kumite’s existence has never been confirmed, Dux’s story is an incredibly controversial one. Regardless, his story was dramatized in the movie Bloodsport, which happened to be the first film to star a certain Jean-Claude Van Damme, who subsequently rose to action movie super-stardom. Interestingly, most of Van Damme’s films have been produced by an Israeli: Moshe Diamant. When asked about this, the Muscles from Brussels replied: “It’s destiny. Israelis like to take chances. I’m a Belgian guy with an accent, and they took a chance with me.”

Words of the Week

Our sages have said, “Sleep is one sixtieth of death” (Talmud, Brachot 57b). If sleep is a form of death, then death is a form of sleep – a temporary withdrawal of vitality for the sake of reawakening to a higher quality of life.
– The Lubavitcher Rebbe