An Interview With Tuvia

This page is an informal, self-written interview meant to answer the questions readers most often ask—about faith, identity, writing, and why a Jewish Israeli believes in Jesus. Some answers are serious. Some are playful. All are honest.

Q: Are you Jewish or Christian?
A: Yes.

Q: Who are you exactly, and what are your religious beliefs?
A: I believe in the faith of my Jewish forefathers, and the books that my people created, which is the entire Bible, the Old and New Testaments. Some would call me an Evangelical Baptist Christian Jew. Some would prefer the term Messianic Jew, as I keep the Jewish biblical holidays rather than the Christian ones and maintain a Jewish identity. To me, however, which label you put on me doesn’t really matter. I was born in Sweden as the grandson of a holocaust refugee from Germany, and I moved to Israel at the age of 13. I am in my 40s, and I live in Jerusalem with my wife, four children, and dog.

Q: How can you believe in Jesus if you’re Jewish?
A: I am 4th generation of Jews who believe in Jesus. It’s more common than many people think.

Q: But the Jews rejected Jesus.
A: Incorrect. I didn’t reject him. My father, grandfather and great grandmother didn’t. The disciples didn’t. Paul the apostle didn’t. Michael Solomon Alexander, the Jewish Anglican bishop to Jerusalem in 1841 – 1845 didn’t. Benjamin Disraeli, Jewish Christian Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1874 – 1880 didn’t. Felix Mendelssohn didn’t.

Q: But a majority of the Jews rejected Jesus and reject him to this day.
A: True. And a majority of the gentiles also rejected Jesus and continue to reject him to this day.

Q: Why should I want to read your articles, stories, and books?
A: Because I write for readers who are curious, thoughtful, and not afraid to wrestle with faith and history.

Q: You only started writing in your late 30s? What did you do in the earlier part of your life?
A: I am an accountant with a BA in Economy and two professional licenses in accounting and salary accounting in Israel. I spent my 20s and most of my 30s advancing professionally and making babies with my wife. Since the babies are now young adults and teenagers and I have fulfilled all my professional aspirations, it’s now time to realize my crazy writer dreams.

Q: How many languages do you speak?
A: Embarrassingly few. Still only the same three I spoke when I was 18; English, Swedish and Hebrew. I am trying to learn Arabic, though, and I have some basic knowledge in French, and I’ve studied some New Testament Greek. Also, there’s a certain green owl who claims I’m really good at Spanish.

Q: Who are you writing for?
A: Evangelical Christians who love the Bible and want to understand it more deeply—especially its Jewish language, land, and history—without needing academic training or political alignment.

Q: You’ve never taken a professional writing class, you’re growing a beer belly, and you will never be able to write as well as *insert huge international bestseller here*
A: Well, hello there inner critical voice who tries to push me down, pointing out all my insecurities. You know what? I’m not afraid of you anymore. I’m even going to spell out what you told me on the interview page of my website. How’s that? Hah! (Also, I’m shrinking, not growing that belly, thankyou very much).

Q: Which program do you use for writing?
A: Scrivener.

Q: What is that mountain on the top logo?
A: That is mount Arbel above the lake of Galilee. It’s a beautiful cliff filled with caves that is stretched right above Magdala. There are numerous amazing stories about things happening on that cliff, from the Assyrian era to the 18th century. And it just might play a vital role in my historical fiction novel.

Q: Do you have other published authors in your family?
A: Yes! I thought you’d never ask. My grandfather, Heinrich Pollack, who fled from Berlin to Sweden in 1939, published his memoirs in German in 2007, “Deine Treue Ist Gross”. His grandfather, Saweli M. Perlmann, wrote several books on the Jews in China. He wrote in German, English and Hebrew (first ever book in Hebrew about China, published in London in 1911). My grandfather’s aunt, Erna Meyer, came to the British mandate to Palestine as part of the 4th immigration wave in the 1930s, and wrote for Wizo. She wrote the first ever cooking book in Hebrew (with English and German next to it) in 1936, where she encouraged “Zionist cooking”, telling the German Jewish housewives to use local products from kibbutzim rather than importing ingredients from nazi Germany. My great grandmother wrote books on the Hanseatic league in what is today in southern Sweden, and her son, my great uncle, wrote memoirs about living through WW2 on the outskirts of Dresden, published in the 1990s. Do I feel pressure to become a writer? No, not at all…

Q: Which Bible translation are you using in your books?
A: I thought a lot about this, but eventually went with the NIV, because of the easiness of the flow in the English language, so unless I state which translation it is, that’s the default. But if I need to make a point that works better in a different translation, I will use that translation. In the fiction I write, my main characters normally all speak the original languages, and if something comes up where the translation doesn’t align well enough with the original, I will might use a more word-for-word translation like NASB or make my own direct translation from the original Hebrew or Greek.

Q: Is it true you wrote a book about Israelis being jerks?
A: No, but wrote a non-fiction manuscript a few years ago exploring God’s grace through the messiness of Israeli society. It was never published, and now I’ve used material from it to many of my articles, so it might not be eligible for publishing anymore.

Q: I hate your writing. It’s horrible.
A: Great! I love getting constructive criticism. Please let me know what you disliked, and if there’s anything I can do to fix it. No tiptoeing. Be upfront. I can take it.

Q: Is it true you wrote “The Secret Scroll of Magdala” in 2015 in a different language and failed finding a publisher?
A: Yes. Turns out that being a debut writer, writing a book of 700-ish pages aimed for Christians in the language of a tiny and very secular nation (Sweden) was an unwise move. Who knew? I rewrote about half of it and made it a book in English, and the other half will, God willing, eventually become part 2 of the trilogy. Some day. Maybe.

Q: What were your motivations to start writing fiction?
A: Because many Evangelical Christians know very little about the historic roots of their faith. Many just read the New Testament and then “jump” to Martin Luther, with little knowledge of what happened in between. Especially after Dan Brown’s “the Da Vinci Code,” I think it is vital to show the historical accuracy at the basis of our faith, as opposed to the strange sources of the 3rd century that Brown built his book on. I hope for this book to be an exciting story while also being apologetic, giving the reader a strong historic foundation for the validity of the Christian faith. I am also trying to disprove any kind of Christian antisemitism.

Q: When did you switch from fiction to non-fiction?
A: It wasn’t on purpose. I started writing articles to get a little extra income and noticed people like my writing. And then just one thing led to another. Before I knew it, I got an agent who wanted me to write non-fiction instead of fiction, and here we are.

Q: I am a journalist and…
A: Yes, the answer is yes, I’d love for you to interview me on the front page and make me world famous.
Q: That’s not what I…
A: Just book me a flight from Tel-Aviv to your glamorous office in London or New York, and I’ll be there. Email me the details.
Q: I just wanted to…
A: See you in London!

Q: Who wrote all these questions?
A: Me. This entire page is essentially just a weird internal monologue with myself. I might be losing my mind.

Q: You are extremely handsome and talented.
A: Thankyou.

If you have additional questions, leave them in comments below.