College football games are typically held on Friday nights or Saturdays—not the ideal time for a player who strictly observes the Sabbath. That's why Sam Salz misses most of his team’s games at Texas A&M University. His only opportunity to participate is if the game is held at home on Saturday night.
Then, he walks to the stadium, waits for sundown, dons his maroon team uniform—he plays with the number 39, symbolizing the 39 prohibited labors on the Sabbath—and usually joins the game midway through the third quarter, with a yarmulke under his helmet and tzitzit (fringes) hanging from his football uniform. 3 View gallery Sam Salz ( Photo: Texas A&M Athletics ) At that moment, there is no happier person in the world than Sam Salz, 21, who until two years ago barely knew the roles in a football team. Now, he is part of a team at a prestigious university, with a home stadium that seats 100,000 people, all of whom adore Salz unconditionally.
How could they not? It's a story straight out of an American movie. "I Didn't Even Know what Positions there are" The academic year at universities in the U.S.
ended this month, with tumultuous protests and a fair amount of antisemitism overshadowing what is a life-shaping event for young Americans on some campuses. Sam Salz didn’t go through any of this. At Texas A&M, a university with more than 70,000 students, only about 500 of whom are Jewish, he feels completely safe and has not encountered any antisemitism, even when he walks a.
