Danny meets Reuven at the library and reads from Heinrich Graetz’s History of the Jews, a history book that is uncomplimentary (and not totally accurate, Mr. Malter later tells Reuven) about Hasidic Judaism. Danny tells Reuven that the picture of Hasidim in Graetz’s account is totally alien to what he knows but is distressing nonetheless. Danny then launches into a discussion of psychology, talking about the unconscious, about dreams, and about Sigmund Freud, a pioneer in the field of psychology, known as the father of psychoanalysis.
Later in the evening, Reuven mentions to his father that Danny reads a lot of Freud. Impressed, Mr. Malter says that he feels a little guilty about giving Danny books behind his father’s back but does so because Danny would have sought these books eventually anyway.
At the Saunders’ house, Reb Saunders, Danny, and Reuven study Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) on Shabbat. While Danny is downstairs getting some tea for them, the Reb talks to Reuven about Danny.
Reb Saunders says that he knows that Danny has been going to the library and wants Reuven to tell him what Danny has been reading. In a very moving speech about Danny, Reb Saunders says that his son is his most precious possession.
Reuven realizes that he has to tell Reb Saunders how Danny met his father and what books Mr. Malter has suggested that Danny read, and he does so. (However, he does not tell the Reb that Danny is teaching himself German, that he plans to read Freud, and that he has read some books on Hasidism.) Reb Saunders is shocked and bewildered at these revelations. He laments to God that he has a brilliant son, but does he have to be so brilliant?
After the meeting with Reb Saunders, Reuven tells Danny that he told his father everything, and Danny replies that his father would have found out about it all anyway. He says that Reb Saunders and he do not talk—except during study time, his father is mostly silent toward him.
Back home, Reuven tells his father about Danny being raised in silence. Neither Reuven nor his father can understand why Reb and Danny cannot communicate with each other.
