Three months after the end of World War II, Nathan left Germany and went to Israel (Mandatory Palestine). He lived in Safed where he worked the night shift as a laborer in a manufacturing plant that milled plates for safes, but he also got some backing to develop his new pen invention.  When the Arab-Israel War started in 1948, the government asked Nathan to use his invention skills for the Israeli paramilitary organization (Haganah) to help save the country.  At the time, Israel was a country with limited resources, so they had to be creative. Nathan primarily worked on weapons that would scare the enemy, such as a bottle launcher, which would throw empty soda bottles sideways in such a way that they whistled like bunker busters.

Based on Nathan’s weapons work, he was introduced to Nahum Bernstein, the New York lawyer who was setting-up several front companies to provide legal cover for the arms export to Israel’s Haganah (Note: Mr. Bernstein helped Adolph “Al” Schwimmer, an aviation engineer and pilot, who smuggled World War II aviation surplus to Israel, and created Israel’s first air force, and later Israel Aerospace Industries, after Israel’s War of Independence. Refer to the book “The Pledge: by Leonard Slater.)  Mr. Bernstein asked Nathan what he wanted to do when the war was over.  Nathan told him he wanted to pursue the development and manufacturing of his pen.  Mr. Bernstein told Nathan that he needed to come to America where the demand for pens was much greater than Israel.  However, Nathan was concerned about living in America since he didn’t know English, so he declined Mr. Bernstein’s offer.  Finally, after the third time Mr. Bernstein tried to get Nathan to come to America, Nathan agreed to come ~ on the condition that he would only stay three months to market his pen invention.  He thought that should be enough time for American companies to beg for his invention, so he could return to Israel.