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:

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* 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
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Slow Pace of Village Life in Central France

Like many other villages in this semi-deserted area of central France, the population consists of a mix of old and new, native and foreign. I’ve been told that it was once a thriving place with shops of various kinds and even a café, but now there is no sign of its former commercial activity, and it is purely residential. However, it still has an imposing building housing the mayor’s office, a library and a central hall for public activities, serving as the administrative center for several surrounding villages. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Travel and Food

If Only She Had Remained in Pre-State Israel

I read this in ebook form as I was told it dealt with Chortkow, the town in Poland (now Ukraine) from which my in-laws came. As I read on I found many similarities between the two stories – both Syma, the heroine of the book, and my in-laws came from a medium-sized town with a large Jewish population, many of whom were assimilated and prosperous. The crux of the story takes place in the port town of Haifa in pre-State Israel, which is also where my in-laws lived. But they fortunately remained there, whereas the heroine of this (real-life) story returned to Chortkow, where the Holocaust caught up with her, leading to her tragic death. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History, Middle East

L’Etat C’est Moi

The tendency to equate the state with one’s person — expressed in the phrase “L’etat c’est moi” (I am the state) — was a feature of the monarchies of Europe in the period during and after the Middle Ages. With the passage of time, as the introduction of republics, democracies, and various forms of constitutional monarchy became a thing of the past, the phrase is now identified largely with the 17th century French king, Louis XIV (and to a limited extent France’s post-WWII president Charles de Gaulle). The phrase epitomizes the arrogance and self-importance of the person uttering it. I have not heard those words spoken by Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, but his behavior in the latter part of his 12-year “reign” as Israel’s prime minister, as well as in the manner of his leaving that position, indicates that he may well think and believe it. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Novel portrays 3 English-speaking students at Hebrew University

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson’s eighth novel concerns three foreign students studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  Each of them is from an English-speaking country; specifically the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.  Two are married, one is single; the Australian and his wife have two children; and all are graduate students in the history department. The  year is 1966, one year prior to the Six Day War. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

Only in Israel!

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — With its unique mix of people from all over the world, almost all of them with Jewish roots, Israel’s population comprises a wide range of cultures, traditions, and even genetic composition. The juxtaposition of so many people from so many different backgrounds has given rise to some unexpected

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Cautious Optimism After Israel’s Political Deadlock

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — About three years ago my husband and I rescheduled our flight back to Israel from London, at considerable financial and personal cost, because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called a snap general election. We were determined to cast our votes in order to get rid of the party

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Biography of David Sealtiel Tells Struggles of Pre-State Israel

This small book, subtitled (in German) “I want to be a compatriot of the Jewish people,” describes the life of the man who rebelled against the bourgeois and orthodox way of life of his family in early twentieth-century Hamburg, and embarked on a life of almost unceasing adventures and escapades in Europe and the Middle East. Although the book is short, the content is amazingly dense and Sealtiel’s life was so eventful that this review will inevitably be long. What an astonishing life this man had! [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

‘River to the Sea’? That Means ‘Eradicate Israel’

The catchy slogan that is chanted so ardently by supposedly well-intentioned human beings in demonstrations being held around the world, ‘Palestine shall be free, from the river to the sea,’ is in effect a call for the destruction of Israel. And that, of course, is what the terrorist organization of Hamas wants to achieve. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East

Frightening sectarian violence within Israel

“Here we go again!”  That was the heading of a post I wrote a few weeks ago about the general election, but heck, it works just as well for what I’m writing about today, the escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza.
The first time I realized that things were getting serious was when I was in my German lesson at the community centre near my house in Mevasseret Zion. “What’s that noise?” I asked the lady sitting next to me. “It’s the siren,” she said, whereupon we and the other participants (all elderly ladies like myself) got up and moved to the shelter, which happened also to house the toilets. We heard (and saw) fire trucks and ambulances racing past, and after hanging around for a while, we all packed up our things and went home to watch the news on TV. A rocket fired from Gaza had landed on a nearby hill, causing very little damage and no injuries, thank goodness. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Neighbor Competed for an International Piano Prize

Some fifty years ago the International Piano Master Competition honoring pianist Arthur Rubinstein was established in Israel. Every three years (four years in 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic), young pianists from all over the world compete in front of audiences in Israel  for the prizes awarded by an international jury in the framework of the competition. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sports & Competitions

Joys and Perils of Internet Shopping

Another of the consolations provided by the internet was on-line shopping. I don’t know about everyone else, but my screen ‘feeds’ constantly contained images of desirable garments, books, items of furniture, gadgets and sundry items with which someone out there sought to entice me. Most of the time I managed to resist the temptation, but , I must confess that there were occasions on which I succumbed. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Business & Finance, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East

Israel Lowers Its Cultural Standards of Excellence

The Israel Prize is awarded for academic or social excellence, and serves as Israel’s attempt to provide its own version of the Nobel Prize. Sadly, I have never attended a Nobel Prize ceremony, but I have read about it, and I know it is a very stately and serious occasion. Just imagine, if the ceremony would be the occasion for a series of pop singers to pop up, sing and play at the tops of their voices a medley of songs of questionable taste (and certainly not my taste). But that was the overriding tone of the Israel Prize ceremony last night. The whole occasion left an impression of bad judgment and inferior standards. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

A Family and a Nation Remember

It’s a day of sad contemplation of what the Jewish people have lost, not only in numbers but in individuals, parents, children, relatives, people who worked with their hands or their brains, doctors, scientists, artists, writers, and lawyers, and so many others. So much talent wasted, so many minds and bodies obliterated senselessly. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History