Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is a freelance journalist based in Mevasseret Zion, Israel.
Her published works, available on Amazon, include:
* All Quiet on the Midwestern Plains: A Tale of Deception, Betrayal, and Vindication
* The Balancing Game: A Child Between Two Worlds, A Society Approaching War
* Chasing Dreams and Flies: A Tragicomedy of Life in France
* The Diary of Anne Frank (Cliff Notes)
* Levi Koenig: A Contemporary King Lear
* Time out of Joint: The Fate of a Family
Shefer-Vanson also is a Hebrew to English translator, with those works on Amazon including:
* The Rainy Day Man by Amnon Jackont
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Spending a few days in a luxurious hotel by the Dead Sea induces a sense of well-being, of physical and mental peace. The air is still pleasantly warm, and has not yet reached the burning heat of summer. The décor of the hotel is aesthetic and comfortable, and […]
Jews and Arabs relaxing by the Dead Sea Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — It’s one of the best-kept secrets of British journalism that the Life and Arts section of the Financial Times’ weekend edition contains some of the best-written and most stimulating articles and reviews. So as we were leaving the airport of our almost next-door neighbor of Cyprus for
Jewish family became British through and through Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish HistorySAN DIEGO — This publication would like to thank and express appreciation to the writers and photographers whose works appeared during February 2016 in San Diego Jewish World. They include: Judy Lash Balint Kenneth Bandler Laurie Baron Boaz Bismuth Dan Bloom Shoshana Bryen Stephen Bryen Cynthia Citron Richard L. Cravtts Jack Forman Donald H. Harrison
SDJW thanks its February 2016 contributors Read More »
Barry Shaw, Cynthia Citron, Donald H. Harrison, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Eileen Wingard, Eric George Tauber, Eva Trieger, Fred Reiss, EdD, Lawrence Baron, Mark D. Zimmerman, Melanie Rubin, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Mimi Pollack, Natasha Josefowitz, San Diego County, Sheryl Rowling, Shoshana Bryen, Steve KramerBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson TARABIN, Israel — Tucked away on the edge of this village, named for the Bedouin tribe that inhabits it in southern Israel, is a farm whose sole objective is to produce camel’s milk. For that purpose some fifty female camels are kept in pens to be ‘serviced’ by a single lucky male
The claims made for camel’s milk Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, The World We ShareBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — You can have a flock of sheep and a herd of cows, a covey of witches and a murmuration of starlings, so why not a transport of translators? This is one of the thoughts that occurred to me in the course of the recent annual Conference organized by the
Public speaking translates into misery Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — To mark both the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Israel Museum and fifty years of German-Israeli diplomatic relations, the Museum is currently presenting an exhibition of masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The exhibition, entitled ‘Twilight over Berlin’ and showing works from the period between 1905 and 1945, provides
German arts on exhibit in 50th year of Israel relations Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Because both my husband and I tend to prefer going to a concert of an evening rather than attending the screening of a movie, our visits to the cinema are relatively few and far between. Due to a shortage of concerts we have, however, been to see a couple
’45 Years’ seemed to take that long for concert lover Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Theatre, Film & BroadcastSAN DIEGO (SDJW) — San Diego Jewish World expresses its appreciation to the 43 writers and photographers whose works appeared during January 2016. These individuals included: David Amos Eitan Arom Kenneth Bandler Laurie Baron Amber Bartlett Ronnie Blair Dan Bloom Shoshana Bryen Stephen Bryen Cynthia Citron Richard L. Cravatts Judy Friedel Michael Freund Donald H. Harrison Natasha
SDJW thanks 43 whose works appeared in January Read More »
Barry Shaw, Cynthia Citron, Donald H. Harrison, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Eileen Wingard, Eva Trieger, Fred Reiss, EdD, Ira Sharkansky, Lawrence Baron, Mark D. Zimmerman, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Mimi Pollack, Natasha Josefowitz, Sheryl Rowling, Shoshana Bryen, Steve KramerBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — A few days ago I received an unusual email. It came from someone I had never met, but whom I knew was the person who was looking after an old friend from long ago. In the mail I was informed that Inge was bedridden, near to death, unable to
Bikur Cholim — The importance of a visit or a phone call Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Obituaries & memorials, USABy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I know I’ve written before about Verdi’s Requiem, the role it played in my childhood and musical education in general, about the impression made on me when I read of its performance by prisoners in Theresienstadt and finally being privileged to attend a performance of the reconstruction of
Book of the Dead, Yom Kippur and Verdi’s Requiem Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — What is it about women’s hair that preoccupies people so much? There was a time when it was considered unseemly for a woman to be seen with her hair uncovered. Still today Queen Elizabeth is never seen without a hat, and presumably for a similar reason it is
Reflections on women’s hair Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — So now ‘radical Islamist’ terror has spread to Paris, the center of culture, civilization and enlightenment. Last January Paris was subjected to a similar heinous attack, but that was confined to targets that could be – and were – dismissed or defined as ‘appropriate,’ i.e., the offices of a satirical magazine
The Paris massacre as seen from Israel Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle EastSan Diego Jewish World thanks and acknowledges the wonderful contributions of the following writers whose works appeared on our pages in December, 2015: Stephen Baird Kenneth Bandler Laurie Baron Michal Beruven Dan Bloom Shoshana Bryen Richard L. Cravatts Jonathan Greenblatt Toby Klein Greenwald Ryan M. Greiss Donald H. Harrison Natasha Josefowitz Rabbi Ben Kamin Morton
SDJW thanks its December 2015 writers Read More »
Barry Shaw, Donald H. Harrison, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Eileen Wingard, Eric George Tauber, Eva Trieger, Ira Sharkansky, Lawrence Baron, Mark D. Zimmerman, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Mimi Pollack, Natasha Josefowitz, San Diego County, Sheryl Rowling, Shoshana Bryen, Steve KramerBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –After some difficult weeks in which my other half was obliged to attend to structural damage to property of ours caused by an incompetent contractor working for a neighbor, I managed to persuade him to book us a weekend in a hotel by the Dead Sea, so that I could
Israel: Where going to the Dead makes you feel so alive Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Travel and Food