Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is a freelance journalist based in Mevasseret Zion, Israel.

Her published works, available on Amazon, include:

Here’s Zikhron Ya’akov from grandma’s perspective

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson ZIKHRON YA’AKOV, Israel — It’s over twenty years since my own children were teenagers, and it was with some trepidation that my husband and I agreed to leave our home and spend a week in Zikhron Ya’akov attending to our three grandsons while their parents took a well-deserved break abroad. Like everywhere

Here’s Zikhron Ya’akov from grandma’s perspective Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Travel and Food

Greatly to their credit, most Jews hold Israel close

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel–I finished reading Howard Jacobson’s book, The Finkler Question, and was still pondering its manifold messages in the evening as I attended a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore. This was given in Jerusalem by an amateur troupe composed mainly of immigrants from English-speaking countries.. Friends had tried to

Greatly to their credit, most Jews hold Israel close Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Travel and Food

Normal Arab-Jewish coexistence in Israel goes unreported by media

  By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Despite rumors to the contrary, Israel is a normal country at least as far as retail therapy is concerned. Shopping malls are popping up with ever-increasing frequency wherever one looks. They incorporate many advantages for both vendors and shoppers, and the ambience in them varies from quiet

Normal Arab-Jewish coexistence in Israel goes unreported by media Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Feline interruptions not cat-astrophes for the orchestras

  By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — A ginger cat scampered along the gangway in front of the stage at the special concert given in the Jerusalem Theatre by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra last Independence Day. The young soloist who was playing Rachmaninoff’s very demanding third piano concerto didn’t seem to notice, though the audience did.

Feline interruptions not cat-astrophes for the orchestras Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

On Translating Martha Glass’s Diary

   By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Some time ago I was given a small book, Jeder Tag in Theresienstadt ist ein Geschenk; Die Theresienstadter Tagebücher einer Hamburger Jüdin, 1943-1945 (‘Every Day in Theresienstadt is a Gift’) by Martha Glass, published in 1996 by the Hamburg Department for Political Education with an introduction by Barbara

On Translating Martha Glass’s Diary Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson