In Chapter 5, Reuven seems to be reborn metaphorically when he returns home with his father from the hospital. He notices details that he never before took the time to recognize, including the hydrangea bush, which he calls a “snowball bush,” in his front yard. He comments, “I had never really paid any attention to it before. Now it seemed suddenly luminous and alive.” Walking through the apartment, he thinks to himself, “I had lived in it all my life, but I never really saw it until I went through it that Friday afternoon.” Reuven’s rediscovery of the objects and setting that, together, constitute his everyday life recalls his father’s wise words while Reuven was still in the hospital: Fortune is best when we have experienced misfortune. This sudden clarity of vision also demonstrates that Reuven is beginning to open his eyes and become aware of the world outside of his own existence.
Potok devotes Chapter 6 to explaining the historical background of Hasidism, of which Danny and his father are members.
Notable in Mr. Malter’s discussion of Jewish history is his explanation of pilpul—in his words, “empty, nonsensical arguments over minute points of the Talmud that have no relationship at all to the world.” Because Mr. Malter is concerned with world events, we expect him to have an unfavorable opinion of pilpul. Likewise, because Reb Saunders is concerned not with secular ideas but only with Judaism, we expect him to be very familiar with and practice pilpul. (This expectation is confirmed in Chapter 7.)
Mr. Malter’s history lesson in Chapter 6 also concerns Danny, whom Mr. Malter likens to a historical figure name Maimon. Maimon, eager for knowledge in addition to that contained in the Talmud, studied many world-famous philosophers. Mr. Malter says of him, “He wanted to know what was happening in the outside world.” Comparing Danny to Maimon, Mr. Malter notes of Reuven’s friend, “But he is a phenomenon. Once in a generation is a mind like that born.” However, given his intellectual prowess, Danny is lonely, torn between what is expected of him and what he himself wants to do. Knowing that this conflict exists in Danny, Mr. Malter again commends Reuven for befriending Danny. Concluding his discussion with Reuven, Mr. Malter reaffirms his philosophical belief, “That is the way the world is.”
Chapter 7 continues the history lesson from the preceding chapter. This time, however, Danny, not Mr. Malter, is Reuven’s history teacher. Danny’s father led his followers from Russia to the United States in 1918, following persecution by Russian Cossacks. Reb Saunders and his followers eventually settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, where, in 1929, Danny and Reuven were born, two days apart, in the same hospital. Incredibly, Danny and Reuven live only five blocks from each other, yet they meet for the first time at the ballgame that begins the novel.
Accompanying Danny to his father’s shul for religious service allows Reuven to experience a new world: Hasidism. Potok details the setting within Reb Saunders’ home, and especially the first floor, which serves as the meeting place for the Reb and his followers. This room seems starkly bare. The walls and ceiling are painted white, the floor is bare wood, and light bulbs hanging from the ceiling are exposed, producing a “harsh light.” We see the Hasidim celebrating the Sabbath and get an idea of Danny Saunders’ world, a world devoted to God and the Torah. Danny is completely at home in this environment, even if he wants to extend his world to include studying the secular area of psychology. Understandably, Reuven is not comfortable in Danny’s world. As Reuven says, “I just couldn’t get it through my head that Danny had to go through something like that every week.”
When Reb Saunders briefly meets Reuven in the hall for the first time, his concern about Reuven centers more on Reuven’s father than on Reuven, as he asks, “You are the son of David Malter?” The more usual question would be, “Are you the son of David Malter?” Instead, Reb Saunders changes the order of the first two words, emphasizing his commanding presence and power and implying that he knows the answer already. Later in this brief encounter, Reb Saunders says, “A son of David Malter surely knows Hebrew.” He knows of Reuven through Reuven’s father, just like Mr. Malter knows of Danny through Danny’s father.
Reb Saunders’ speech following the meal after the religious service includes much history. His narration completes that started by Mr. Malter in Chapter 6 and continued by Danny toward the beginning of Chapter 7. In his speech, Reb Saunders includes teachings based on gematriya, in which each letter of the Hebrew alphabet designates a number, so that every Hebrew word has a numerical value. Reb Saunders also practices a form of pilpul with Danny, although Reuven realizes that “it wasn’t really pilpul, they weren’t twisting the texts out of shape, they seemed more interested in . . . straightforward knowledge and simple explanations.” Then Reb Saunders asks Reuven his opinion of the gematriya, knowing that one example that he discussed was added incorrectly and trusting Reuven’s mathematical abilities to decipher the correct numerical value. Here, Reb Saunders tests Reuven’s intellectual abilities to reassure himself that Reuven will be a good, competent friend for Danny.
Reuven and his father’s conversation about Reuven’s visit to Danny’s emphasizes once again Mr. Malter’s philosophy of life, which is so different from Reb Saunders’. Speaking of Reb Saunders, Mr. Malter says, “It is a pity he occupies his mind only with Talmud. . . . But he lives only in his own world,” cut off from the larger society that surrounds him. Mr. Malter expects that Danny, once he assumes his father’s religious position, will behave as Danny’s father does, shutting off his mind from the secular world. Danny and Reuven have become good friends, but they still live in different worlds. Ironically, Mr. Malter’s expectations of Danny foreshadow the end of the novel, but in the opposite way. That is, Danny will not shut off his mind from the outside world.
