While Charles Lichtman didn’t intend his new novel “The Sword of David” to be a cross between “The DaVinci Code” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” one can’t help but draw comparisons between these two epic stories and Lichtman’s action-packed book, published by Simon & Schuster and out on September 7.
In the story, the protagonist Chaim Klein, an Israeli commando, unexpectedly discovers the Ark of the Covenant and is searching for the Ten Commandments tablets. At the same time, it’s up to Klein to stop terrorists who are planning to attack Israel and dozens of Western cities while traveling around the world to Ethiopia, Paris, Lebanon, London and Rome. Though it deals with heavy subjects, “The Sword of David” ends on an inspirational note and shows readers a path forward for peace in the Middle East.
Though it deals with heavy subjects, “The Sword of David” ends on an inspirational note and shows readers a path forward for peace in the Middle East.
While the book focuses on a main character who is Israeli, it could be intriguing to readers from a variety of backgrounds. “[I] did not write ‘The Sword of David’ to appeal only to a Jewish crowd,” said Lichtman, who is based in South Florida. “On the contrary, since the Old Testament is followed by Christianity and Islam, I hope my story rings [true] to the followers of those religions as well. Then, maybe there would be a real dialogue about fixing the Middle East.”
Lichtman, a lawyer who serves on the national Board of Directors of Secure Community Network (SCN) and is chair of the security committee for the South Palm Beach Jewish Federation, was always interested in spy novels and began studying terrorism following the Munich Olympics in 1972.
“Learning about spycraft, Israel, the Middle East and terrorism has been my passion for literally 50 years,” he said. “Along these lines, I always said that I wanted to write spy-type thriller novels, evidenced by my first novel, ‘The Last Inauguration,’ which has many characters carry over into ‘The Sword of David,’ although the book is not a sequel.”
Growing up in an antisemitic environment also inspired Lichtman to write. He’s from Gary, Indiana, where antisemites physically attacked him throughout middle and high school until he learned martial arts to get them to stop.
“To top it off, the next door neighbor on the left fought for the Germans in WWII, and the neighbor on the right was Lebanese, and who made it clear to my parents from when they moved in that they did not like Jews,” he said.
In his work with SCN, the official safety and security organization of the Jewish community in North America, he helps oversee operations, which are managed by top-flight security professionals, most of whom have trained in the military and with the FBI. SCN fortifies the security for Jewish buildings such as synagogues, senior centers, community centers and workplaces.
“I suspect most American Jews have not even heard of SCN,” he said. “But right now, with the rise of antisemitism, it is one of the most important Jewish organizations in existence.”
Along with his passion for protecting Jews in the U.S., Lichtman hopes for peace in Israel, though he knows the issue is complicated. “I think the greatest possible guarantee of security for Israelis long term is to find a collaborative solution that gives the Palestinian people their own country,” he said. “This would take the cooperation of most of the world to get this result accomplished the right way, because somewhere, enormous funds would be necessary from all corners to build out an infrastructure for a new Palestine, independent from Israel.”
He continued, “I am proud to be Jewish and I love Israel. Given my extensive studying of antisemitism and terrorism, I am dreadfully concerned that Israel’s long-term existence is threatened by enemies who, as they say, want to drive Israel into the sea, and kill all of its citizens. So with all of these factors converging, I wrote this intensely researched, yet wholly fictional story to get people’s attention worldwide.”
Kylie Ora Lobell is a writer for the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, The Forward, Tablet Magazine, Aish, and Chabad.org and the author of the first children’s book for the children of Jewish converts, “Jewish Just Like You.”
