Book Review: The Jerusalem Creed

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I must admit – anytime that Jerusalem appears in the name of a book it is bound to attract my attention. This was the case when I saw an ad for a thriller set in the Holy City and as the book was being offered for free on Kindle, I quickly downloaded it.

The Jerusalem Creed (Enclave, July, 2015) by Ernest Dempsey is the seventh book in the Sean Wyatt adventure thriller series. Wyatt, a trained killer in his former life, now works for a friend's artifact recovery agency. When Wyatt and his buddy Tommy are attacked in their homes, they realize that they have been targeted by an unknown madman who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. But first, they must figure out exactly what that madman wants.

The book opens in Biblical Jerusalem, where some very important religious relics are to be spirited out of the ancient city ahead of the Babylonian invasion. Two disciples of the high priest are instructed to take these items to the far reaches of the empire, and even beyond, to save them from falling into Nebuchadnezzar’s hands.

Scenes from a Book Launch

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It is every author's dream to see his/her book published and promoted at an official book launch. My dream came true, but in a different language!

On June 16th, my novel БYPГАСКАТА АФЕРА (THE BURGAS AFFAIR) was presented at the main Ciela book store in Sofia. The book made its world premiere in the Bulgarian language, as it has not yet been published in English.

THE BURGAS AFFAIR is a fictional account of the aftermath of the terrorist attack at the airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, in July 2012. In the book, a Bulgarian policeman is teamed up with an Israeli woman from the Mossad as they work a case involving international terrorists and local criminals in both Bulgaria and Israel, while confronting the traumas of their pasts.

Bound for Bulgaria to Promote My Novel

Official invitation to the book's launch in Sofia on June 15, 2016.

My wife and I are flying to Bulgaria this afternoon to promote my novel, БYPГАСКАТА АФЕРА (THE BURGAS AFFAIR), at tomorrow evening's book launch in Sofia.

During my stay in Bulgaria I will appear on two television programs and be interviewed by a few major newspapers and websites.

In addition, Jodie and I will have a bit of free time, and despite the high temperatures forecast for the weekend, we will explore the northern Bulgarian city of Ruse on the Danube River.

For those of you who don't read Bulgarian, I hope to launch my novel in English one day soon!

I Celebrate Ramadan! On My Own. In My Backyard.

Let me start out by stating that I am not a Muslim. I was born and circumcised after eight days on the planet; I read the Haftarah at my Bar Mitzvah; I was married under a chuppah in Israel - my home and homeland; and I completed the circle by seeing my own son become a Jewish man.

That said, I have always shown an openness to other religions. I have eagerly explored the Catholic cathedrals of Spain; I have visited the Vatican; and here in Israel, I am fascinated, but do not understand the Bahá'ís. Last December, my wife and I spent a weekend in the Druze town Daliat al-Carmel, where the best part of the visit was eating the local hummus, the tasty tehina.

Searching for the Original Dead Sea Scroll

When we first meet Moses Wilhelm Shapira, he has been found dead in a seedy Rotterdam hotel. The year is 1884 and Shapira’s suitcase is stuffed with old manuscripts. Shapira’s business card reads: “M.W. Shapira, Book Seller and Antiquarian, Agent of the British Museum, Jerusalem.”

Shapira, once a purveyor of valuable Biblical artifacts, some of them authentic and others allegedly forged, has put an end to his life as well as to the constant charges that he is the world’s greatest con man. His latest crime, his critics claim, is an attempt to sell a recently discovered scroll of the fifth and final book of the Five Books of Moses.

In The Lost Book of Moses (Ecco, April 2016) by Chanan Tigay we fall under the spell of this original Dead Sea scroll. “It was nothing less than a contemporary copy of the book of Deuteronomy written on parchment ... handwritten more than three thousand years earlier.” Yet this copy of the ancient book was quite different from that known for generations. The “narrow strip of leather tattooed in ancient script” was “rife with passages that were different – sometimes very different – from the traditional version.” The biggest deviation of all was the fact that this manuscript contained an eleventh commandment.

The Sofia Book Fair

My novel THE BURGAS AFFAIR - БYPГАСКАТА АФЕРА is currently on display at the Ciela stand at the Sofia Book Fair.

This is your chance to get a copy! I will be in Sofia June 14 -21 and will be glad to autograph your copy.

The Burgas Affair - БYPГАСКАТА АФЕРА - In Bookstores!

I am proud to announce that my novel The Burgas Affair has just been published by Ciela in Bulgaria - БYPГАСКАТА АФЕРА.

The book is already available in bookstores and will be published in a digital edition next week. Special thanks to good friends Matthew and Laura Sperber now traveling in Bulgaria for their visit to a bookstore and buying a copy!

For those who read English - you'll just have to wait. The original English version of my novel will hopefully be published one day soon!

You've Got Mail, 42 Years Later

Taughannock Falls

My wife hails from Ithaca, New York. In 1971, along with her parents and sisters, she made aliyah – the family moved to Israel. Even now, over 40 years later, Jodie has fond memories of her childhood – of walking to school in the snow-covered streets, of summers spent on the shores of Cayuga Lake, of visits to Cornell University, and of enjoying the beauty of the many waterfalls around the city.

For nearly forty years, Jodie spoke of these memories and her only lament was that she couldn’t share them with me. “I want to show you where I grew up,” she told me repeatedly. In comparison to the unexciting scenery of Sioux City, Iowa, where I was born, “Ithaca is much more beautiful,” she would say. “Someday I want to take you there.”

That someday came in the summer of 2013. We traveled to the States for a family wedding and to meet up with good friends. And we took a detour with our rented car to Ithaca for the long-awaited visit to the town where Jodie had grown up.