Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a matched gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
Fast Forward

Orthodox Pro Martial Arts Fighter Shot Dead In Florida Home

(JTA) — An Orthodox Jewish professional mixed martial arts fighter was shot and killed in his Florida home.

Aaron Rajman, 25, was killed Monday evening when several men entered his home in West Boca Raton, Florida. They reportedly argued with Rajman, shot him and then left, the Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported, citing the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

It is not known what they argued about.

Rajman won several MMA titles as an amateur; he turned professional in 2014 and held a 2-2 record at the time of his death. He is believed to be the only Orthodox Jewish MMA fighter, according to reports.

Rabbi Zalman Bukiet, director of the Chabad of West Boca Raton, told local television news station WPTV-Ch. 5: “This was a special young man who had a heart of gold. It’s a tragedy.”

Rajman reportedly studied Torah at the Chabad, and taught children at a local Jewish school, as well as self defense classes for children and Krav Maga techniques to local police.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.