Judith Hertog

Shangri-La: October Seventh, 2023 I was in Shangri-La, in a village in the Tibetan Himalayas on October 7th, 2023. More precisely, I was in the Shangri-La tourism zone of Yunnan, a popular Chinese travel destination marketed as the “t...

My essay, Zion, about being in Shangri-La Tibet on October 7th 2023, is now up at Liberties Journal @readliberties. 
I wrote about my despair and about trying to hold on to hope. Because, really, what do we have but hope? 

Read the full essay at libertiesjournal.com/online-artic...

I’m pleased and honored that my manuscript in progress, Jerusalem Syndrome, was a semi finalist for the 2025 Hudson Prize. I’ll keep working on it and hope to find a home for it soon.

Thanks for the kind words! I just posted a link to the interview. I'm not afraid of responses, but I just don't spend much time on Bluesky because I find it so hard to write in fewer that 300 characters. As you see, I needed over 7000 words to interview Magid and still don't feel we covered it all

Long Shadows Hertog: How do we disentangle anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism? Magid: I certainly don’t think that anti-Semitism is the only reason people are out in the streets protesting the war in Gaza. You jus...

“For many American Jews, being pro-Israel really has little to do with Israel.”
From my interview with Shaul Magid for The Sun Magazine, in which he talks about his concept of “counter-Zionism” and why so many American Jews are more “pro-Israel” than many average Israelis. tinyurl.com/c4ukn8ra

"Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people"
Exactly 425 years ago Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for arguing that the earth revolves around the sun.

On my laptop, I just came across this old document that dates back to the previous Trump presidency. These are tips for resistance and maintaining community.
I don't remember where I got all these tips, but I think some of them are helpful...

Do you have anything to add?

When I asked it about Taiwan's government, it gave an overview of Taiwan's government, calling it a "vibrant Democracy," only to immediately erase its own answer and say: "Sorry, that's beyond my scope. Let's talk about something else."

I asked DeepSeek if it's censored. It's own honest answer: "DeepSeek’s models are required to comply with strict Chinese regulations, including censorship of politically sensitive topics. For instance, it avoids discussing subjects like Tiananmen Square or criticism of the Chinese Communist Party."

How Tourism Trapped Tibet The region is becoming a theme park for the Chinese nation.

She complained that life in Hangzhou was stressful and competitive. “But today I am Drolma,” she said, “a #Tibetan girl who is free and joyful and lives without care.”

@jbher.bsky.social @foreignpolicy.com

foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/24/c...

A tourist dressed in a Tibetan costume poses by copper prayer wheels as a photographer aims his camera lens at her.

“But today I am Drolma,” she said, “a Tibetan girl who is free and joyful and lives without care.”

Foreign Policy just published my article and photo reportage about China's commodification of Tibet.
foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/24/c...

Nice!

'Humor was central to her': Portrait of Hannah Arendt as an unknown poet ***

@genesegrill.bsky.social 'Humor was central to her': Portrait of Hannah Arendt as an unknown poet, translated by Samantha Rose Hill and Genese Grill.
www.haaretz.com/life/books/2...

Los Angeles Times owner says articles will use AI meter to show sources’ ‘bias’ Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong also wants to include more conservative voices in paper’s opinion section

The LA Times has proposed to improve “journalistic objectivity” by having AI algorithms write “two-sides” of each stories. Soon we’ll have AI write our news, read our books, make our decisions, create our art... and then we can all just go to sleep and let AI live our lives.
tinyurl.com/5xeyhjyk

Exactly! Making us all dumber.
Next, they’ll just have AI write our news, make our decisions and then… well, why don’t we just let AI live our lives?

“Both sides”? Who decided that there are only two sides to everything?
How about three sides? Four sides? A multitude of sides?

“Two sides” was a cost-cutting concept media companies came up with to claim they’re “unbiased” when quoting 2 sources without actually researching the story.

Find Out Why Health Insurance Denied Your Claim You likely have the right to access records that explain why your insurer denied your claim or prior authorization request. Use ProPublica’s free tool to generate a letter requesting your claim file f...

I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases)

projects.propublica.org/claimfile/

As an Israeli, I must say: there’s no denying Israel is committing ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon agrees. 

To American Jews and AIPEC I say: Your uncritical support of Netanyahu hasn't helped the Israeli people. It helped these extremists stay in power.

And don’t succumb to despair. Which is really, really hard.

Fathers and Sons - Tin House “When I glance back at my life, all I seem to have done is chase after ridiculous things.” – Ivan Turgenev, in an 1856 letter to his friend Yelizaveta Lambert.

With a link to my response essay... tinhouse.com/fathers-and-...

#20BookChallenge
A favorite from my teenage years. I wrote an essay about rereading it as an adult.

And if your local bookstore doesn't carry everything you're looking for, you can order used books online from independent marketplace Biblio: www.biblio.com

Cover of Skating to Antarctica by Jenny Diski

#20BookChallenge
Funny, smart, sad, subversive: a travelogue against travel.

I first fell in love with Diski when I read this 2014 essay in the LRB about her cancer diagnosis. Maybe the funniest patient essay I’ve read. Unfortunately,she died less than 2 years later. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v3...

Rule of Stone | A film by Danae Elon — Filmoption International If Jerusalem stone could speak, it would tell this story: from Imperial British bylaws about cladding with it, to the conquest and annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, and architecture’s role in maki...

“Pro-Palestine” activists in Montreal have succeeded in canceling the screening of a film that shows architecture's complicity in the Israeli occupation. Why? Because the filmmaker happens to be Canadian-Israeli. What a way to promote awareness of your cause and make allies!
Humans are indeed mad.

Cover of An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine

#20BookChallenge
To distract herself from the ruins of her own life and the disintegration of Lebanon, Aaliya sets herself the pointless task of producing literary translations into Arabic that no one will ever read. Appropriate reading now, as Lebanon is recovering from yet another war.

A small figure walking in a dark snowy forest

Thanksgiving 2024

#20BookChallenge
I read this book when I first arrived in the US. It has shaped my view of this country ever since. A good Thanksgiving read!

Journey to Tibet Judith Hertog attempts to retrace the steps of Alexandra David-Néel in Tibet, and reflects on how much has changed there in the last century.

With a link to my article in Tricycle Magazine: tricycle.org/magazine/ale...

#20BookChallenge
This account of Alexandra David-Neel’s 1923 journey to Lhasa inspired my life-long fascination with Tibet. I just wrote an article for Tricycle Magazine, in which I retrace her footsteps and realize she could be quite arrogant, prejudiced, and insufferable. Still, she’s my hero.

#20BookChallenge
About the history of the Hmong people and their displacement to the US. About war. About the US medical system and its values. About the way culture shapes how we see the world. About disregard for other people's reality. About cultural chauvinism. About a little girl who is ill.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._S._A...