Part One, Chapters X-XV Summary

Thirteen years after sitting as an observer and Joshua's apprentice at Sanhedrin, Elisha is being ordained as a Rabbi. He has traveled all of Judea and Galilee, studying, attending academies, sitting with the masters. Joshua his old instructor is there and is immensely proud of Elisha. Elisha begins his life as a Rabbi by sitting as a judge in Usha. Meir, a younger student, invites Elisha to stay with him and his wife, but Elisha decides instead to share the Sabbath with them.

Elisha has Sabbath with Meir and his wife Beruriah and is completely taken with the young couple and their two children, Saul and Samuel. In his subsequent visits to Usha, he stays with Meir and Beruriah and makes many trips there. At first he brought Deborah, but she felt uncomfortable with people who were...