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:

* 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

* A Ruffled Calm

* 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

Paradoxical as it sounds, the majority of this Jewish country is secular

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel–Despite claims to the contrary, Israel is a secular country. There is, however, a modicum of truth in the assertion that the stream of Judaism defined as orthodox exerts undue influence, both political and social, over various aspects of life in Israel. Notwithstanding, the majority of Israelis remain doggedly secular, […]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish Religion

Jewish critics of Israel need to accept the facts of life

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel —  I never know whether to laugh or cry when I read those perennial complaints that things are getting worse, the country (no matter which) is going to the dogs and ‘fings ain’t wot they used to be.’ The trouble is that change happens, it is inevitable, we are

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Europe’s history of warfare, treachery, and peace offers lessons to Israel

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel–The Punic Wars, the Roman Empire; the migrations and conquests of the Germanic tribes; the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, the Barbarians; the split between the Roman and the Byzantine churches; the Islamic conquest of Spain; Charlemagne; the Wars of the Three Brothers, which ended with the treaty of Verdun in 843;  the

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

Bereavement unites Palestinian and Israeli parents

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –As a result of a chance encounter at Lod airport at the beginning of the year I met Robi Damelin, spokesperson for the Parents Circle – Bereaved Families Forum, the group uniting Israeli and Palestinian bereaved families in an effort to attain peace, reconciliation and tolerance. Robi was struggling

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

For refugees, policies of host countries make all the difference

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel–“Refugees.” That word means many different things to many different people. The readership of the magazine of the Association of Jewish Refugees (the British publication for which I also write)  is loosely defined as having once fallen into that category. By today, however, most of those who once sought refuge from a

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Music and diary revive dark feelings of Shoah

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –No, not the conductor, Otto Klemperer, but his cousin, Viktor, Professor of Romance Languages at Dresden University. Most of Viktor’s extended family had left Germany for the US well before 1939, but Viktor had no children, was married to a non-Jew, had fought in the German army in the

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, USA

Elena Bonner tells Norwegians about their double standard

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson  MEVASSERET ZION, Israel–“You must read this,” a friend said, thrusting some typed pages into my hand. They contained the text of a speech given by Elena Bonner, the Jewish widow of former Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, at the Freedom Forum held in Oslo, Norway, in May 2009. I read the typescript with

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, USA

Music and history abound throughout Israel

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –As readers of this column will have surmised by now, my husband and I are keen concert-goers. Israel abounds in opportunities to attend inspiring orchestral concerts, uplifting chamber performances, and impressive solo recitals. We try to attend as many of these as our energy and pocket allow, and these

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

‘Who is a Jew’ Controversy Pops up in Britain Again

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — When 12-year old M. applied to attend the Jews’ Free School,  the secondary school that was founded in 1732 and serves London’s Jewish community, he was not accepted. The reason? His mother was not born Jewish and her conversion was in accordance with the progressive, not the orthodox,

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson