Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Wandering through the stalls of the Jerusalem International Book Fair held a few weeks ago my eye fell upon a display entitled ‘Lavi Publications,’ where copies of just one or two volumes in Hebrew were on display. The modestly dressed elderly lady in attendance at the stall was eager […]

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — The visit to Israel of friends from abroad provided us with the opportunity to walk through the Old City of Jerusalem and show them just a few of the tourist attractions in which that relatively small area abounds. One of our visitors had been to Israel several times in the last

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — And so once again, only two years after the previous election, Israel’s long-suffering population has been thrown into the maelstrom of another election campaign. Though perhaps “maelstrom” is too strong a term to describe the boredom and drudgery of being exposed to another round of groupings and regroupings

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson ZIKHRON YA’AKOV, Israel –The tragic and sudden death in a traffic accident of our daughter’s father-in-law, Eli Goldstein, brought an abrupt and untimely stop to the life of a man who was born on the land and worked the land throughout his life. His funeral, which was attended by what seemed to

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I wanted to see for myself. Day and night we are bombarded with news, views and opinions about what is happening in the ‘Territories,’ whether defined as ‘occupied’ or by their ancient geographical designation, ‘Judea and Samaria.’ So a few weeks ago, when things seemed relatively quiet, I

 By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Founded in 1997 by Shuki Levinger, a social worker, and Yael Shilo, a textile artist who was trying to find a way to ensure the future of her special-needs stepson, Kishorit is today a thriving community situated in the pastoral hills of Galilee. It provides a safe haven as

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The organization known as Machsom Watch has been in existence for over ten years. Since its first tentative steps as a small group of humanitarian feminists who wanted to protect the human and civil rights of Palestinians it has grown in numbers, is less radically feminist, but is

MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Between Gaza and Berlin Those two place names signify so many different views, concepts and even worlds, seeming to encapsulate the distinct worldviews that are so much a part of our life, here in Israel. In a local and very provincial sense these are the names of two roads in Rechavia, the Jerusalem