On the day of the sale a beloved local restaurant burned to the ground. One of the shoppers seemed to know a bit about it, so I asked if he knew the cause.

He winked and said, “Jewish lightning, probably”—a phrase I instantly recognized as an anti-Semitic slur for financially motivated arson. As one of only a half dozen or so Jews in my county, I knew prejudice existed, but I was stunned by the reminder of how some of my neighbors see me.

A decade later I still want to know my neighbors better, just maybe not all of them.

Nathaniel Borenstein
Greenbush, Michigan