When Reuven describes Michael’s isolation experiment to Rav Kalman, the description of the boy’s enforced solitude provokes a visible reaction: Rav Kalman recoils and later delivers a public tirade against the new rabbinics department at Hirsch. Danny tells Reuven that Michael has become completely silent and motionless, describing it as an “intensification of resistance.” After the Rosenbergs—Cold War Soviet spies—are sentenced to death, a frightened Rav Kalman asks Reuven if there will be pogroms against American Jews.

Reuven and his father attend the tenaim (engagement ceremony) for Danny and Rachel. Reb Saunders warmly embraces David in a public gesture, thanking him for guiding Danny’s secular education and preventing him from abandoning Judaism. During the celebration, Reuven joins the Hasidim in dancing but feels a deep sense of separation from their world. That night, David tells Reuven he will likely be leaving his school; he has now received a firm offer of a professorship in Talmud from the Zechariah Frankel Seminary. A few days later, Reuven informs Rav Kalman that he intends to use his father’s method of textual criticism during his smicha examinations. Rav Kalman reluctantly agrees to allow this to proceed.

Reuven studies intensely for his smicha exams. The exams are postponed for a week when Rav Kalman stages a walkout to protest the new graduate rabbinics department. During this time, David learns his job offer from Hirsch University has been officially withdrawn, leaving the Zechariah Frankel Seminary position as his only prospect.

The examinations last three days. On the first day, Reuven is questioned on Jewish law from the Yoreh Deah (a medieval legal code) and the Talmudic tractate Chullin. He successfully emends a difficult passage by citing a clearer variant reading found elsewhere in the Bavli (Babylonian Talmud).

On the second day, the confrontation escalates. Reuven cites a reading from the Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Talmud). Challenged by a printed volume Rav Kalman produces to contradict him, Reuven points out that the modern Vilna Edition was edited to match the Bavli, and the original, correct reading is preserved in the older Venice Edition. A variant text from a 15th-century manuscript of the Mishnah (the foundational text of the Talmud), which Reuven discovered at the Frankel Seminary library, then anchors his next argument. Finally, he demonstrates irreconcilable contradictions between two legal discussions within the Bavli itself, arguing that the text is not a unified whole and reconstructing a theoretical source. When asked by Rav Kalman whether he would apply this method to the Pentateuch, Reuven says no; when Rav Gershenson asks about the Prophets and Writings, Reuven stays silent. Rav Kalman and Rav Gershenson declare they have no more questions, ending the examinations early and leaving the outcome uncertain.

David accepts the professorship at the Zechariah Frankel Seminary. Rav Kalman summons Reuven and tells him he is receiving smicha. He admits he initially refused but was persuaded by others and by hearing a genuine love for Torah in Reuven’s voice during the exams. Reuven sees the Dean, who explains the compromise: Rav Kalman agreed to grant smicha on condition that Reuven never teach Talmud in the rabbinical school. The university president suggested the new graduate rabbinics department might use him. The Dean informs Reuven of this teaching appointment; Rav Kalman’s stated reason for accepting it is that he would rather keep Reuven where he can watch him than lose him to Gordon.

Danny calls Reuven to the treatment center, revealing that Michael has fallen into a catatonic state after asking to see his parents. In the isolation room, Reuven mentions receiving smicha from Rav Kalman, and Michael breaks his silence in a rage, calling Reuven a “liar,” “cheat,” and “bastard” (353). The news of Reuven’s ordination has shattered Michael’s fantasy that Rav Kalman would punish Reuven. Under Danny’s gentle questioning, Michael confesses he secretly hoped Rav Kalman would hurt Reuven so they could share a mutual hatred of their fathers. This admission triggers a mental health crisis, and Michael screams that he both loves and hates his parents for the shame and suffering his father’s controversial scholarship has caused him. Michael shouts at his parents before collapsing into their arms, sobbing that he loves them. Danny later tells Reuven he understood Michael’s conflict because he “went through some of that [himself]” (361).

At Danny and Rachel’s wedding, Michael attends with his parents. Reuven observes that it is a joyful occasion where several parts of the Jewish community come together. In August, Reuven joins both families for a weekend by the lake, a year since first meeting Michael. While sailing, Michael tells Reuven that when he looks at the sky, he no longer sees faces, only “clouds,” signaling that his recovery has truly begun.