| A | B |
|---|
| Reuven Malter | Main character; gets ht with baseball in eye and is taken to the hospital. Meets some new friends and becomes friends with the boy who hit him |
| David Malter | Reuven's father; called abba. Visits Reuven many times in the hostpital.Is a teacher at a high school |
| Danny Saunders | the one who hit Reuven. Hasidic Jew. Wants to become friends with Reuven and visits him often |
| Reb Saunders | Father of Danny. Rabbi, wants Danny to become a rabbi. never appears but is mentioned |
| Mr. Galanter | gym instructer and leader of Revuen's softball team. Brings Reuven to hospital when he gets hurt |
| Mrs. Carpenter | nurse |
| Dr. Syndman | docotr who takes care of Reuven; also opperates on Billy Merrit |
| Tony Savo | former boxer, injured while boxing. Becomes friendly with Reuven and little Billy |
| Billy Merrit | young boy who is blind becuase of car accident. Mother was killed in crash but father was not |
| Roger Merrit | only person not hurt in crash. Wife killed and son blinded; visits Billy often |
| apikorism | a word of disfavor used to describe modern orthodox, by ultra orthodox. One who denied the existence of God, the revelation, the resurrectiona and death. Also, an educated Jew reading Darwin, and who was not wearing side curls and fringes outside his trousers. |
| Hasidim | all Hasidic Jews |
| Yeshiva | school for religious and secular education; can be a college |
| Tefflin | two black boxes with straps containing biblical passages. Worn on head and waist. One of the first commandments that a boy fulfills after he makes his bar mitzvah. |
| Shabbat | Sabbath day; Friday evening into Saturday night |
| Talmud | collection of writing of Jewish Law |
| Tzitzit | ritual fringes attached to any four-cornered garment and worn to remind wearer of God's commandments |
| Abba | father |
| Torah | first five books of Hebrew Bible, Pentateuch |
| Tzaddik | religious leader of Hasidim. Should live an exemplary life becuase God revealed himself in the actions of the Tzaddik |
| Reuven and Mr. Malter | Good father son relationship; Mr. Malter visits Reuven often and always talks about their Shabbat dinner together when Reuven is out of the hospital |
| Billy and Roger Merrit | Good father son relationship; Mr. Merrit openly expresses emotion for Billy and his injury. When describing accident, Billy makes it a point to mention it was not his fathers fault, just an accident |
| Danny and Reb Saunders | Not the best father and son relationship. Danny wants to study physchology while his father wants him to become a rabbi. They do not talk to one another except when they study Talmud together. Reb is raising his son in silence. This is the reason why Danny hides at the library becuase his father is strict about what he reads |
