After graduating from the
Charles University in Prague, he entered the diplomatic service. In 1939 he emigrated to the United Kingdom to escape the
Nazis, where he became an associate to
Jan Masaryk. After the end of the war, he returned home, but on the 1948 coup d'état
emigrated to Israel, thereafter changing his name to the one he held through the end of his life. In Israel he continued his diplomatic career becoming
plenipotentiary; he was the first
Israeli ambassador to Austria in 1956, the
Ambassador to Norway (and while based in Oslo, he was
Ambassador to Iceland and Poland. At the same time he continued writing in
Czech. Most of his prose was first published in Israel, some in England or in the US. In 1990 he visited his homeland for the first time since his fleeing for refuge. After a long break, publication resumed in his home country, and his works received broader recognition. He was awarded the honorary doctorate from the Charles University. Although he was able to be employed as a diplomat and produce output as an author at the same time, from 1977 onward he devoted his time solely to writing. In his lifelong literary career, he started out as a poet, then later became known as a writer of collections of short stories and novels. He is known for his modern Czech translations of
Psalms and the
Song of Songs. His works were translated from Czech into Hebrew as well as other languages; his best known novel
Dvorní šašci (
The Court Jesters) was translated into 12 languages. == Selected works ==