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Baseball Game
Main Characters Reuven and Danny are playing in a baseball game against eachother. Danny and his team are constantly insulting the others; during the game Danny accidentally hits Reuven in the face with a ball, and a piece of glass (from his glasses) gets in his eye; He is sent to the hospital. -
Hospital
Reuven is taken to the hospital for his eye. During his stay, he meets a blind boy named Billy. His father visits and gifts him a radio, as he is not to use his eye too often while it's healing. Danny visits him, but he is angry and turns him away. When Reuven's father finds out he didn't listen to Danny's apology, he is upset and tells him to at least listen. Reuven listens to Danny's apology and he does forgive him. -
Hospital - Talk between Reuven and Danny
Danny tells Reuven that he reads and memorizes multiple pages of the Talmud/Torah everyday. Reuven is impressed and asks how; Danny tells him he has photographic memory, he also reveals that he has been reading in secret at the library, and that the librarian recommends him books. They later find out the librarian is David Malter, Reuven's father. -
Studying Talmud
Reuven spends his first Sabbath with Danny, and now spends Saturday's studying Talmud with Danny. Reb Saunders, Danny's father, raises his son in silence, and Reuven doesn't understand why nor what it means. Reuven immpresses Danny's father. He begins to spend most of his Saturday's studying Talmud at Danny's house, and Reb starts using Reuven as a way to communicate things to his son. Reuven and Danny spend a lot of time together -
world war II
President Roosevelt is dead, and people find out about the concentration camps. Reb Saunders takes it pretty hard. David Malter writes articles about Palestine, and Reuven supports him as best he can. Unfortunately, David Malter suffers a heart attack and Reuven moves in with the Saunders for the meanwhile. -
LIving with the Saunders - Table
During dinner, Reb is talking about the lost lives of the Jewish to the Holocaust, and Reuven brings up how people are calling for Palestine to be a Jewish homeland. Reb gets extremely mad and starts yelling. After Dinner, Reuven mentions how he was glad he didn't mention his father was one of the people who thought the same. They talk about Danny's father crying at times and how no one mentions it. Danny replies that it's due to the Jewish lives lost in the holocaust. -
living with the Saunders
While living with the Saunders, Danny and Reuven get closer and practically spend the whole day together. They talk about other things, like how his sister is being married off, and how he wishes his younger brother wants to be a rabbi, that way he doesn't have to break tradition, so that he can study Psychology. -
College starts
Sometime into August, Reuven leaves with his Father to Peekskill, and the US bombs Nagasaki. Then College starts for both Reuven and Danny. Danny is studying Psychology and Reuven is studying to be a Rabbi. Danny doesn't like the expiremental aspect of Psychology, and how they don't talk about Freud in class much. Reuven suggests talking to the professor about it; Danny talks to the professor after a while. -
Zionism
Many people in college are debating about Zionism and distancing themselves from people with different beliefs. David Malter writes an article; Yiddish papers mention him often and it gets to Reb. Reb forbids Danny from being friends with Reuven. He talks to his father about it, exclaiming that Reb Saunders was a fanatic, and David tells him that he had people like Reb kept Jewry alive thousands of years ago. The debate about Zionism stops in school because a Jewish student who went to war died. -
Danny's College Future
late spring, Danny sits with Reuven during lunch and asked him for help on some work. He tells Reuven that "his ban ha[d] been lifted". Danny invites Reuven to his sister's wedding, where he sees Reb again. Danny talked about how his father is inviting him over and going to college to get a doctorate. Reuven and his father discuss, but David asks if Danny is abandoning his his Judaism. Danny keeps telling Reuven that his father wishes to see him, and that he was asking why he hasn't come over. -
Reb and Reuven talk
Reuven tells Danny he will come over on Sunday. Danny and Reuven enter Reb's office and they sit. Reuven mentions he is planning to become a Rabbi after Reb asks him what he plans to do in the future. Reb talks about his brother, and how he was blessed with a brilliant son, who has no soul, and how he did his best to show him compassion and sympathy. Reb gives Danny his blessing to study Psychology and that he is "free". -
Goodbyes
Danny and Reuven graduate College. Danny's younger brother inherits tzaddikate. Danny comes over to Reuven's apartment to say goodbye, because he's leaving for college. David Malter asks Danny if he's planning to raise his own son in silence, Danny answers that if he can't find a better way, then he would. Reuven walks Danny outside and asks If he would visit sometime. They shake hands and Danny leaves.