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:

Political corruption manifested in towering eyesore

  By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM–Over and above the scandal and shenanigans surrounding the prosecution, trial and eventual conviction for accepting bribes and betraying the voters’ trust by the erstwhile  mayor of Jerusalem and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his associates is the very material existence of the building that lies at the heart of […]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East

The little things that provide so much happiness

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — “What makes you happy?” A recent survey in England asked people that question and, after obtaining thousands of replies and running the various statistical analyses, came up with the result that on the whole people are happier after the age of 55 than when they were younger. Various explanations

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Narratives recapture the chaos, pride of Six Day War

  The Lion’s Gate; On the Front Lines of the Six Day War by Steven Pressfield; Sentinel/ Penguin, (c) 2014. ISBN 978-1-59523-091-1, 430 pages including index and bibliography, $29.95. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — ‘The Lion’s Gate’ is a fascinating attempt to present the events before and during the Six Day War of June 1967,

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East

Richmond has history, art and many monuments

Editor’s Note: Our correspondent from Mevasseret Zion, Israel, has been visiting the United States and occasionally blogging about what she sees.  Here is a report from Richmond, Virginia. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson RICHMOND, Virginia — For me personally, the principal attraction of Richmond, Virginia is the presence there or in the vicinity of two first cousins

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Travel and Food, USA

The architect’s vision of Hadassah Hospital at Ein Kerem

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM–Not long ago I was privileged to hear renowned architect Arthur Spector give a talk about the new Hadassah Hospital building at Ein Kerem designed by his firm. Leaving aside the financial aspect of the building, which has aroused some controversy, Spector proceeded to provide his audience with a fascinating insight into

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Science, Medicine, & Education

Translators often lonely and underpaid

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Last year, for various reasons, the annual conference of the Israel Translators Association was not held. Consequently, this year’s event, which was held in Herzliya at the beginning of February, was eagerly awaited. The three-day programme comprised around fifty lectures and workshops, some of them held concurrently, interwoven

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

By Arab standards, I’m a refugee and so are my children

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The general Israeli public is on the whole soft-hearted and empathetic towards those in need. The scenes we see on TV almost nightly of Syrian refugees pouring across the borders into Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, sheltering from the snow or sweltering in the heat inside the flimsy tents

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Naomi Tsur to push for green tourism

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

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Taxi drivers around the world are a special breed

By 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

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Trivia, Humor & Satire