Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

[caption id="attachment_959" align="alignright" width="100"] Dorothea Shefer-Vanson[/caption]

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

Her published works, available on Amazon, include:

[showhide type=”pressrelease” more_text=”Show More” less_text=”Show Less”]

* 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
[/showhide]

‘Jacob and his Sons’ at the Israel Museum

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — The exhibition of paintings by  Francisco de Zurburan, a seventeenth-century Spanish painter, has been a major attraction at the Israel Museum for the last few weeks. I had never heard of him, so I made use of a free morning to go and take a look. What met my eyes […]

‘Jacob and his Sons’ at the Israel Museum Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Exhausting, yet fun, travel in North America

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Six weeks, eleven flights, six states, one one-week cruise and four countries (not including the USA). That is feeble compared with the Beatles’ tour of the USA in 1965 (twenty-five cities in thirty days), but they were much younger than we were (and probably flew first class). One

Exhausting, yet fun, travel in North America Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Travel and Food, USA

Book describes education in utropia

Uscolia by Gabriel Lanyi;  Sycorrax Books, Boston, 2017 By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — It is many years since I read material on the theory of education, and this book on the subject came into my hands through the kindness of our new neighbor, who also happens to be the author. But it is no

Book describes education in utropia Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Science, Medicine, & Education

Royal wedding invoked Hebrew imagery

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — As befits an English woman living abroad, I watched the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on television, and reveled in the pomp and circumstance of each shot and every angle. I loved the sight of the beautiful mixed-race bride, her dress, the bridesmaids and page-boys, the various

Royal wedding invoked Hebrew imagery Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

‘The Crown’ captivates English ex-pats

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — When we were in Las Vegas last year, visiting our son and daughter-in-law, on one particular evening they were otherwise occupied. They made sure to seat us comfortably in the living room facing the large TV screen, handed us the remote control, and told us to find something on

‘The Crown’ captivates English ex-pats Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

A European debate on anti- Semitism

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Unable to sleep one night I surfed through the TV channels I sometimes watch and came across a debate about anti-Semitism on France24 (in English, fortunately). The trigger for this was President Macron’s tweet about the existence of an ‘old anti-Semitism’ in France alongside a new form of the

A European debate on anti- Semitism Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East

German Jews fared well in 20th century Britain

Their Promised Land; My Grandparents in Love and War by Ian Buruma; Penguin Random House, 2017 By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I found this book so fascinating that I read it more or less in one sitting and, having read it on my Kindle, proceeded to order the paperback version from Amazon as I knew I

German Jews fared well in 20th century Britain Read More »

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

Memory in the Living Room

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –In recent years it has become customary in Israel, in addition to the official ceremonies marking Holocaust Day, for small groups of people, whether survivors, descendants of survivors, or simply those who feel a connection to the subject, to gather together in private homes and talk about their own

Memory in the Living Room Read More »

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History, Middle East

Book details pre-war Jewish life in Romania

 Julius Matthias; a Pact with the Devil by Michelle Mazel; New Meridian (c) 2017. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — This family saga spans the first half of the twentieth century, focusing primarily on good-looking Julius Matthias, the son of a poor Jewish family, whose one ambition in life is to become a doctor. In

Book details pre-war Jewish life in Romania Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

Simone Veil’s memoir provides inspiration for all

Une Vie (One Life) by Simone Veil, (c) 2017, Stock, France.   By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — On the cover of Simone Veil’s autobiography, written in 2007, we read that she is a member of the Academie Francaise, though this is not mentioned in the book. It would seem that after a long and

Simone Veil’s memoir provides inspiration for all Read More »

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