Viewpoint: I was the victim of antisemitic vandalism. Here’s what I want folks to know.

On a latest morning, a neighbor called to notify me that our autos experienced been vandalized. When I went exterior, I could not think what I noticed carved into the door. There it was: a swastika. This isn’t intended to take place in our North Berkeley neighborhood.

As the perpetrators hit 3 properties in full, two of which are Jewish, it is tricky to know for certain if we ended up the focus on of an antisemitic assault or a youthful act of insurrection by a teenager enamored with racist symbolism. Fortunately, the police have been fast to respond and are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Still, the pernicious image of hatred is notably poignant for me. 8 of my 11 uncles and aunts, and each of my grandparents on my father’s aspect, have been murdered in Poland through the Holocaust. The Nazis and their collaborators stole my mother’s family’s business enterprise, homes and possessions and gave them a week to go away their 800-12 months-previous, now-destroyed Jewish local community of Eisenstadt, Austria. And they were being a number of of the lucky kinds.

Wishing to tell my neighbors of the heinous vandalism, I posted to the group web site Nextdoor. As supportive messages began to flood in, I acknowledged that this troubling second could be reframed as an possibility to discuss out, to replicate on how this impacted me and to educate other individuals about how we can respond as a neighborhood.

Regrettably, this is not the initial racist antisemitic act to take position in Berkeley, nor in the greater Bay Region, in the earlier couple a long time. And nevertheless Berkeley is a liberal metropolis whose people tend to believe in inclusiveness and reject dislike, it is for this very cause that we are a primary focus on of bigots. Consider as we could to preach inclusivity, the information of adore and tolerance does not access each and every person.

Racism and antisemitism remain deeply engrained in our societies, and actions these kinds of as the new vandalism in our community have impressive repercussions. They can induce dread, uncertainty and even further more perpetuate detest. Even so, it is how we react when attacked — both of those as individuals and as communities — that helps make all the distinction.