Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is a freelance journalist based in Mevasseret Zion, Israel.
Her published works, available on Amazon, include:
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson Naomi Tsur, who was born in England and moved to Israel in 1966 to study Classics and Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has had a varied career, ranging from coin curator in Israel’s Antiquities Authority to co-authoring a Hebrew-English/English-Hebrew dictionary and heading the Society for the Protection of Nature in […]
Naomi Tsur to push for green tourism Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –Taxi! Taxi drivers the world over are a race unto themselves. The taxi drivers of London, have to acquire ‘The Knowledge,’ which involves studying London’s streets till they can find any address, and have to pass an exam to gain their taxi license. These days they are separated from
Taxi drivers around the world are a special breed Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Trivia, Humor & SatireThe Jews and Germans of Hamburg; The Destruction of a Civilization, 1790-194 by J.A.S. Grenville; Routledge, London and New York, 2012, 330 pp. By Dorothea Shefer Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — This thorough study of the history of the city-state of Hamburg, a thriving Hanseatic port in north Germany, describes in almost unbearable detail the
Hamburg’s Jewish history told Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish HistoryBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I wanted to prepare a suitable version of the advertisement for my book, The Balancing Game for inclusion in the website of the San Diego Jewish World, which posts my articles from time to time and whose motto is ‘There is a Jewish Story Everywhere.’ For this purpose I
Should SDJW change its masthead font? Who knew? Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Travel and FoodBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, ISRAEL –Just as Americans remember where they were when Jack Kennedy was assassinated, Israelis remember where they were when the sirens went at 2 p.m. on Saturday, 6th October, 1973. Anyone who is now under forty or had not yet immigrated to Israel and wasn’t there at that crucial time
In the maternity ward at the onset of the Yom Kippur War Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish HistoryBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — A white card with black lettering fell out of a book as I took it down from its shelf. This turned out to be an invitation sent in 1963 to members of the Society for Jewish Study and the B’nai Brith Leo Baeck (London) Lodges to attend a
Insights into Israel-UK relations from Society for Jewish Study Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM –There comes a moment when words are not enough. That moment is now, just one week after the death of my 28-year-old niece, Naomi. There are no words of consolation, no words that can convey the terrible depths of sorrow this bereavement has brought to my sister and her family, as
In memory of Naomi Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Travel and FoodBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Time was when going away on vacation meant that one was cut off from one’s nearest and dearest for the duration, whether it was a week or two, or even longer. Gone are the postcards we used to send to relatives, friends and neighbours, to remind them of
The trouble with keeping in touch on vacation Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Travel and FoodTEL AVIV (Press Release) — Yitzhak Rabin, who served as Prime Minister of Israel during two separate periods, 1974-77 and 1992-95, was a figure who towered over his generation. The first native Israeli (‘sabra’) to serve in that office, he was assassinated by an extremist right-wing Jew in November 1995, at the conclusion of
Rabin Centre in Tel Aviv depicts his life and Israel’s history Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — One of the readers of the AJR Journal (Association of Jewish Refugees), published in London, to which I contribute a monthly column entitled ‘Letter from Israel,’ wrote an irate letter to the editor complaining about what I write. They wrote: “Why doesn’t Mrs. Shefer-Vanson write about the real
Jerusalem and Northwest London Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — It is a matter of routine for the majority of Israel’s population that when children, whether boys or girls, reach the age of eighteen they go into one of the forces that make up the IDF in order to give two or three years of service to
When a grandson finishes his IDF training Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East
By David Amos SAN DIEGO –Every trip to Israel is an adventure, a revelation. No two trips are the same, and our recent ten day visit was no exception. Yes, we had the usual encounters with family and Israeli musicians, but after not being in Israel for years, we were treated to the country’s phenomenal
A Jordanian guide’s dream of peace Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The subject of the status of women in Israel is a tricky one, because on the one hand Israel aspires to be a modern, democratic society, and in the public sphere women are treated as equals, on the whole. On the other hand, though, its laws
Women’s status in Israel reflects a long ago age Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson TEL AVIV–Going to gala concerts isn’t really our thing, but when the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra announced that in honor of its return to the refurbished Heichal Hatarbut (Palace of Culture), its home in Tel Aviv, it would be performing Mahler’s fifth symphony, along with Beethoven’s violin concerto (with Itzhak Perlman as soloist)
Ahhh, Mahler, Beethoven, Perlman and Mehta! Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson