Welcome to my page.

This page is dedicated to my literary endeavors. My first novel was "The Shield" followed by "Beyond the Shield".

A couple of year ago I attended a ceremony at which a member of Congress and a U.S. Senator told about their experience of the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The ceremony took place at the Auschwitz concentration camp, with an overfly of Israeli Air force jets. It was a moving moment, which both attendees remembered clearly. They also remembered an Israeli general, who was there as part of a large Israeli military delegation, saying words to the effect that, and I am paraphrasing: "If we only could be here 60 years ago…".

The statement could be interpreted in two ways: if Israel existed before the Holocaust it would have become a refuge to the European Jews and the Holocaust would have never happen or it could be interpreted as: "If only Israel with its military power could be there 60 years ago the Holocaust would not have happened".

This got me thinking. The first option – a refuge during the early stages of Nazism is obvious, though it's unclear whether all the Jews of Europe would have taken refuge in Israel. The second option is not as simple as it seems. Would just an application of modern Israeli military power prevent this great evil?

It was a bothersome thought, especially since the more I thought about it the less I was convinced that it would have made much of a difference.

In the end I decided to write a book, mostly to clarify the issues to myself and see what kind of leadership would be needed to do what seems to be necessary. I transported modern Israel into 1941, days before Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union and let things develop from there.

Historical research showed me very quickly that Israel's military power would have mattered very little in the world of 1941, unless accompanied by a brave and ruthless leadership. I had to invent a whole new group of Israeli leaders, mostly because none of the current crop are capable of doing what is necessary. In the conditions of June 1941. Political correctness, concern about the enemy's civilians and empty talk without action would have, very quickly, led to a catastrophic loss of life and, possibly, a Nazi victory.

As far as I am concerned, the most fantastic part of this book is the decisive and uncompromising actions of the Israeli government. The transportation of the whole country to 1941 seems very mundane in comparison.

Since I tried writing a book and not an essay, it also includes the doings and adventures of a number of characters. I tried to explore the lives of a number of different people and show the action from their point of view.

None of the characters are a depiction of real people. They are, rather, composites of a number of persons. I did my best to depict historical characters, but as all such endeavors, the images are highly subjective. I don't apologize for this – in my universe I can do as I wish.

I hope you'll like The Shield and the sequel Beyond The Shield.