SPOT THE JEW
Baz Dreisinger

“Is it silly to think that Jews look like, well, Jews?

I’m actively snubbing this question as my sister Sarah and I go head-to-head on a round of our favorite mall sport: “Spot the Jew.”

“There’s one,” I say, pointing at a brown-haired, bumpy-nosed, bottle-shaped Gap shopper who’s sashaying toward the cash register. She wears an ankle-length denim skirt of the sort that makes Modern Orthodox Yeshivas rejoice.

“Way too easy,” Sarah protests. “You get half a point. That’s it.” She surveys the food court. Having recently graduated from Yeshiva high school, she’s better at “Spot the Jew” than I am. “Those two—Jews, for sure. Hair is totally blow-dried.” Sarah nods toward a pair of girls chatting volubly while inhaling colossal cups of fat-free frozen yogurt….”

Baz Dreisinger is a writer and adjunct professor of English and American studies at Queens College, City University of New York. She has written about pop culture and race-related issues for The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Observer, The Nation, Blender, Vibe, and The Village Voice. She loves Caribbean culture and noodle kugel, and she holds a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University.