Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is a freelance journalist based in Mevasseret Zion, Israel.
Her published works, available on Amazon, include:
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson LONDON, England — Our summer across the channel in Limousin, France, concluded with a short stay farther south, at a Gite in the countryside near the picturesque village of Montcuq. Finding the place called Mondaunet put our GPS under a lot of pressure, as the name did not feature in its database, but eventually, […]
Fiddling (on the roof) around in France Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Travel and FoodBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson DOMEYROT, France — I consider myself to be something of a purist when it comes to the English language, which is hardly surprising since I’ve spent most of my adult life working as a translator/editor/writer. I try to avoid profanities, and will rarely even press ‘Like’ for Facebook items that use them. However, every
Terrorists are nothing but bloody barbarians Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, InternationalBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson DOMEYROT, France — A book entitled A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss (published by Ballantine Books, New York, 2000) recently came into my hands by chance. The main subject – intrigues, violence and even murder in connection with trading on the stock exchange in early eighteenth-century England – is not one that would
Two novels about Jews in England Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-VansonBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Life is full of strange coincidences. I first encountered the story of Charlotte Salomon about twenty years ago, when an exhibition of her work, a series of paintings with captions describing her life and entitled Life? Or Theatre? was held at the Royal Academy in London. It made
Artist Charlotte Salomon’s life told in free verse Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish HistoryBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — It was inevitable, yet no-one saw it coming. Everyone was in denial, hoping against hope that common sense would prevail. But it didn’t, and here we are, over a week after the referendum, trying to work out what’s going to happen now that Brexit’s here. At an informal
Brexit and its rocky aftermath Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, InternationalBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel–Whether it was by coincidence or not, the supplement that came with the Ha’aretz newspaper last weekend contained a long article about – and interview with – Professor Telma Handler, a psychiatrist, psychologist and international expert on the brain whose most recent research has focused on the mechanism of empathy.
Tel Aviv, Orlando, Birstall, Magnanville … Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East, USA
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The sudden collapse of bookshelves in Yigal’s study, fortunately without injury to life or limb, set in train a course of events (new bookcases in every room) that enabled a thorough sifting-through of books and other items collected in the course of some fifty years. One of the most
German Jewish doctor brought health care to desert Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & EducationBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel–Over ten years ago I was asked by the then editor of the AJR Journal to write a monthly column about life in Israel. There was no reference to my political views or any of the many current events which overtake us on a weekly, daily and even hourly basis.
There’s far more to Israeli life than conflict Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastA Second Daniel; A Tudor Intrigue by Neal Roberts; Booktrope, Seattle By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I was drawn to the title of this book which appeared on a list of books that could be downloaded, and seized the opportunity to read it on my Kindle as I recognized the quote from The
The trial that may have influenced the Bard Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-VansonBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — After a week of cultural delights in Vienna, we spent a week in France to recover from our exertions before returning to Israel a few days ago. And so it was that, as usual, on our first full day in the beautiful Limousin region we tuned our radio
Why French radio played ‘Bolero’ the entire day Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Now that we are well and truly entrenched in the digital age it comes as no surprise to find that this has been adopted and adapted to its own ends by the community of Jews originally from German-speaking lands, otherwise known as Yekkes. Ever since I joined Facebook
Social networking among far- flung German Jews Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — It came as something of a shock to me a few years ago to hear that there are some people who have mixed feelings about celebrating the Jewish festival known as Passover (Pesach). For someone like myself who quite likes eating matza this seems strange. But then I
Memories of Passovers past Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish ReligionBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Some twenty-five years ago our son and his wife presented us with our first grandchild. She was the center of our life and our pride and joy, and over the subsequent fifteen years she was joined by another six grandchildren, three from the same couple and three from
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — It was very gratifying to hear two of our grandsons (aged 22 and 18) express a desire to be taken on a tour of the exhibition entitled ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’ concerning the exile of the Jews of Judea by Nebuchadnezzer II in 586 B.C.E. and currently being held
Exhibit traces ancient warfare in the Middle East Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East