Dorothea Shefer-Vanson Archives - Page 23 of 37

How the Brits broke the Nazis’ ‘Enigma’ code

February 13, 2017

Capturing the Enigma; the Unsung Heroes of HMS Bulldog by Patrick Spencer; Published by Mouse Works Publishing By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — In May 1941, at a time when the Second World War was in full swing and the British forces were doing their utmost to block Hitler’s rampage across Europe, the battle to control […]

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Culture and weather in London, Paris, Jerusalem

January 30, 2017

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — ‘He who tires of London has tired of life,’ wrote Samuel Johnson, and I dare say he had a point. Even in the dead of winter, when the bone-chilling cold really does chill every inch of bone in your body, the place has its pleasures provided you are suitably

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food

In battle with my tooth, dentist was painful victor

January 9, 2017

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — In order to spare the feelings of anyone who might happen to read this I am not posting a photo of my face. I look like something out of a horror movie. The sight would be too horrifying for most people. Especially anyone who knows what I look like normally.

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food

‘Sleeping Beauty’ delights in Jerusalem

January 3, 2017

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — Once a year Israel’s classical ballet comany puts on a performance of a traditional ballet. This is intended mainly for the entertainment of children during the Chanukah/Christmas holiday season. For me, however, this is a golden opportunity to enjoy a very special aesthetic and artistic treat. When I was growing

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Was the Bard an insomniac?

December 22, 2016

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –Some time ago I had one of those ‘white nights’ that occasionally descend and prevent me from sleeping. I cannot say whether it was my night-cap cup of tea or thoughts about the dire political situation, but whatever the cause, sleep eluded me. As I lay in bed passages

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

In praise of Mona Golabek, author and performer

December 16, 2016

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Several years ago I read The Pianist of Willesden Lane written by Mona Golabek about the experiences of her mother, Lisa Jura, first in Vienna and then in London. She had been sent there at the age of fourteen in the framework of the Kindertransport, the undertaking that

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

At first German- speaking Jews fared better

December 9, 2016

I Only Wanted to Live; the Struggle of a Boy to Survive the Holocaust by Arie Tamir; published by Arie Tamir, 2015; translated from the Hebrew by Batya Jerenberg By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Some kind of morbid fascination, possibly even masochism, seems to impel me to download and read yet another Holocaust memoir,

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History

Jerusalem has changed almost beyond recognition

December 2, 2016

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSEET ZION, Israel — It came as a bit of a shock to realize that I’ve been living in or near Jerusalem for over fifty years – the best part of my life, in fact. I still love London, my birthplace, but there’s no escaping the fact that I don’t really know

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Travel and Food

Israel’s secular schools under religious pressure

November 25, 2016

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The headline in the paper one morning made me shudder. It reported that Israel’s Minister of Education, Naftali Bennet, had proclaimed that it was more important to focus on Jewish studies in schools than on math and science subjects. Admittedly, the party that Bennet represents, Jewish Home, stands for

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

Did the Bard crib from another book on King Lear?

November 16, 2016

1606, Shakespeare and the Year of Lear by James Shapiro published by Faber and Faber, 2015. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — When I picked this book up at Luton airport, as I was about to board a plane, I thought I was going to read a historical novel. I couldn’t have been more

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Winds of resentment: Brexit and Trump victories

November 9, 2016

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — There’s an ill wind blowing through the world. First Brexit, and now Trump. What’s next? And what makes people vote for a policy or a person that seems on the face of it to embody all that is worst in human nature and societal relations? In the referendum in

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, USA

A reunion of cousins in Israel

November 1, 2016

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — When I came to live in Israel fifty years ago, and even before that on my occasional visits to the country, my father equipped me with a typewritten list of names and addresses of relatives. I dutifully visited most of them, and so I got to know the numerous

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Travel and Food

Security and naivete

October 18, 2016

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I happened to be in France at the time of several vicious terrorist attacks there, all perpetrated by Muslims. The poor French public is subjected time and again to these horrendous attacks and is left both bothered and bewildered by it all, as well as being angry with its

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East

Where do authors get their ideas?

October 4, 2016

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Writers have different ways of developing their ideas into a novel, and after my fourth novel was published, the editor of San Diego Jewish World asked if I would tell how I go about the process. He suggested that I use my most recent novel, Chasing Dreams and Flies, a Tragicomedy of Life

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