by Brad Jacobson (Columbia, MO)
“Come—come into my store,” the shopkeeper calls.
Walking through the Arab shuk, I focus straight ahead.
“A special deal for you,” he says.
I eye a Bedouin carpet hanging outside his store.
The shopkeeper invites me to sit and have coffee
and tells me his name is Neal.
I am his first customer in twelve days.
He wishes for peace and says both Palestinians and Jews have hearts.
He loves to eat hummus and drink Coke with his friends.
I pick out a candle holder, but can’t find my wallet.
I am his first customer in twelve days.
He looks under the pillow.
Finds the black billfold and teases me,
“Where is my wallet—where is my wallet?”
We laugh together.
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 