Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
Shefer-Vanson is an author and freelance writer based in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion. She may be contacted via dorothea.shefer@sdjewishworld.com.
Novel shines a light on Soviet WWII decison- making
This novel gives a detailed account of the days leading up to the German attempt to take Stalingrad in the summer of 1942, doing so by tracing the exploits of a group of former...
Moncrieff’s 40 packed years
As a former translator and great admirer of the works of Proust, both in the original French (a bit of a struggle for me) and in their delightful English version, I could not resist...
![By Weygand [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons](https://jewishwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/800px-Place_Fontaine_des_barres_Limoges-324x235.jpg "Tapestries in a medieval castle inspire visitors")
Tapestries in a medieval castle inspire visitors
BOUSSAC, France — The region around Limoges has been known since medieval times for its weavers. The art of tapestry-making once flourished there for many generations, passing down from father to son. Today the...
Suicide’s memoir indicts the Gur sect of Hassidim
The poor woman who wrote this book (and eventually committed suicide) was born into a specific sect, tantamount to a cult, of ultra-Orthodox Judaism known as the Gur Hassidim
As a child and teenager the...
![By Molly Adams from USA (May Day - Workers Strike 2017) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://jewishwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1280px-May_Day_-_Workers_Strike_2017_35598353875-324x235.jpg "Bravo, Americans, for standing up for the children!")
Bravo, Americans, for standing up for the children!
The recent furore over Donald Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents and placing them in enclosures that have been likened to cages, seems in the end to have brought out the...
‘Jacob and his Sons’ at the Israel Museum
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,...
Exhausting, yet fun, travel in North America
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),...
Book describes education in utropia
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...
A week of roller coaster emotions
MEVASSERET ZION, Israel —That Was The Week That Was (TWTWTW) was the title of a satirical program on UK television in my youth, bringing a great deal of mirth and merriment to the British viewing...
German Jews faring well in 20th century Britain
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...