raffel raised the funds to publish and publicize his fifth novel via a kickstarter campaign where he crowd-sourced comments, edits, and suggestions. maris kreizman of kickstarter commented, "it was the first time i'd come across a project in which an author specifically solicited editorial feedback from backers…. this was a creative way to invite his audience in closer." in november 2014, raffel’s novel "temple mount" was published. in it, high tech entrepreneur alex kalman rushes to his dying grandfather’s bedside and finds himself promising to find the ark of the covenant, missing for over 2,500 years. in israel, kalman picks up a partner in his quest—archeologist rivka golan. within days they are targeted by a sniper, chased through the streets of jerusalem by a bulldozer, interrogated by israeli intelligence, and trapped in a tunnel under jerusalem’s temple mount.