by Brad Jacobson (Columbia, MO)
Today is Shabbat.
I stop in for a Bamba
Peanut snack and Coke.
We do not pay
until after Shabbat.
Sammy wears a Yankees hat.
His first language is Arabic
but he speaks English and Hebrew
to customers.
David visits Sammy every day.
He manages the Heritage House,
the Jewish hostel next door.
Sammy, David and I dream
about sailing around the world.
We will meet at the ship tomorrow.
Or the day after.
Brad Jacobson is a volunteer every summer in Israel in the SAREL program. He teaches TESOL at the Asian Affair Center at the University of Missouri, where he has an MEd in Literacy. In the summers he enjoys exploring places with his camera like the Old City of Jerusalem, Tzfat, and the Red Sea where he scuba dives. He has been published in Tikkun, Voices Israel, Poetica, Cyclamens and Swords, and the University of Missouri International News.
The Jewish Writing Project 
“Sammys Shop” is a visual in my mind, like a reflection in a pond, there is a tangible reality within the words
Hope.