Summary: Chapter 8
When Reuven returns to school, his friends treat him like
a hero, but he feels they are acting immature. After school, he
takes a trolley to the public library to meet Danny. He finds Danny
on the third floor, where the scholarly journals and pamphlets are
located. Reuven does not want to disturb Danny so he sits down at
another table and reviews symbolic logic in his head. He is still
not permitted to read because his eye has not healed completely.
Reuven joins Danny at his table so that he can hear him
read aloud from Danny’s book, Graetz’s History of the Jews. Graetz’s harsh
denunciation of the Hasidim distresses Danny. Graetz argues that
many tzaddiks, especially one whom Reb Saunders has taught Danny
to revere, were con artists who took advantage of their followers.
Reuven reminds Danny that he should not necessarily take Graetz’s
scholarship to heart. Danny then tells Reuven about the psychology
text he has been reading concerning dreams and the unconscious.
Danny says he has been studying German so that he can
read Freud, and Reuven is astonished, thinking about the parallels between
Danny and Solomon Maimon. When Reuven tells his father about Danny’s
activities, David Malter marvels at Danny’s curiosity and capacity
for learning at such a young age. Later that week, Reuven’s father
confesses that he isn’t sure whether it is ethical to give Danny
books to read without his father’s knowledge. At the same time,
he recognizes that no one will stop Danny from reading and takes
solace in the fact that, through frequent discussions, he will help
Danny digest the material.
That Shabbat, Reuven goes over to Danny’s brownstone,
where he meets Danny’s mother and beautiful sister. Danny and Reuven spend
the afternoon studying Talmud with Reb Saunders on the third floor
of the house, which bears a striking similarity to Reuven’s own
home. At first, the depth and intensity of the discussion between
Reb Saunders astounds Reuven, but he soon realizes that, although
Reuven lacks the breadth of Danny’s knowledge, he is Danny’s equal
in depth.
Reb Saunders and Danny reach a stopping point in their
discussion, and Reb Saunders sends his son to get some tea. In Danny’s absence,
Reb Saunders reveals to Reuven that he knows about his son’s secret
reading at the library and studying with Reuven’s father. Reb Saunders
asks Reuven to tell him what Danny has been reading, as he cannot
ask his son directly. Reuven is unsure what to reveal, but he tells
Reb Saunders everything except that Danny is learning German, wants
to study Freud, and has read books on Hasidism. Later that evening,
Danny walks Reuven home. Reuven confesses that he told Reb Saunders
about Danny’s library visits, and that Reb already knew about them.
To Reuven’s surprise, Danny is relieved that his father knows.
Danny explains that his father has raised him in silence.
Ever since the age of ten or eleven, his father has talked to him
only when they study Talmud together. Reb Saunders says that through
silence, Danny will learn to look into his own soul for answers.
Danny admits that he finds his father’s methods of parenting perplexing, and
Reuven agrees. Back at the Malter house, Reuven tells his father about
Reb Saunders’s silence. Although Mr. Malter seems to be familiar
with that tradition, he refuses to explain it to Reuven. He does,
however, say that Reb Saunders is using Reuven as a buffer through
whom he can talk to Danny.
