Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, at The Blogs

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

Jul 19, 2026, 10:23 AM

In 1916 my father, Manfred Vanson (van Son) was born in Germany, in the port city of Hamburg. His great-grandfather had moved there in 1823 from Deventer in Holland where his family had lived for many generations. My father...

Jul 10, 2026, 1:15 PM

By the rivers of Babylon…

Attending a performance of Verdi’s opera Nabucco in Tel Aviv last month I was struck by the apparent reference to contemporary developments. The opera, which was written in 1841, is loosely based on events described in the Bible (2...

Jul 3, 2026, 12:27 PM

What I Learned in London in June 2026

I was born and brought up in London in the years immediately after WWII, and left in 1965, so memories of the place are inextricably bound up with the events of that period. I was never really part of...

Jun 5, 2026, 10:38 AM

The Pink Sari (le Sari Rose) by Javier Moro

Reading a book about India in French which has been translated from the Spanish original seems a bit crazy. However, when I picked this book up from the shelf in our local pensioners’ club I hadn’t realized what a...

May 29, 2026, 5:44 PM

Books and Stuff

Last week, having missed the bus from Tel Aviv to Mevasseret, I found myself unexpectedly on the train. My natural instinct on being in that situation is to read a book, but I didn’t have one with me. I...

May 17, 2026, 1:39 PM

An Echo from the Past

One day a message appeared on my screen. It came from someone I had never met or known and asked about my translation of articles by Verdina Shlonsky. As I read the message the memory of the composer, Verdina Shlonsky,...

May 10, 2026, 11:27 AM

A Concert Full of Fun

Tomer Lev, Berenika Gliksman, Nimrod Meiri-Haftel at concert (photo: Yigal Shefer).

Concerts of classical music are usually fairly serious affairs. One wears appropriate clothing, behaves in a suitable manner and listens to the music played by the orchestra or chamber ensemble with attention and interest. But the concert of the Jerusalem...

May 1, 2026, 2:50 PM

England, my England

Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH

The country I grew up in 70 years ago no longer exists. Post-war England was a land where people were emerging from a period of hardship and austerity. There was a sense of solidarity within and between different groups, whether...

Apr 23, 2026, 12:47 PM

Independence Day 2026

There was a time when I celebrated Israel’s Independence Day with unalloyed pleasure, rejoicing in the knowledge that we finally had our own country, where all Jews can find sanctuary and make their home. Coming after two thousand years...

Apr 16, 2026, 12:10 PM

The Debt to Pleasure

This extraordinary book by John Lanchester begins with a purported Preface by its purported author, who goes by the suspiciously apt name of Tarquin Winot, and which (the reader learns at a much later stage of the book) has...

About Me

I was born and brought up in England. I am a graduate of the LSE and the Hebrew University. I have lived in Israel since 1964. I am an experienced translator, editor and writer.