Some 20 years later, the same Priest Mzlateslavsky has convinced the Cardinal in charge of the Krakow, Poland region that the Jews of the city should be expelled. The Cardinal decrees that there be a debate between a Rabbi and a representative of the Church on the subject of the Talmud and that the Jews would be expelled if, in his judgment, the Jewish representative loses the debate. After Mendel is chosen as the Jewish representative, Mzlateslavsky arranges for Shloime to be the Church representative, secretly savoring the idea that Shloime will defeat his own father and cause the expulsion of the Jews of Krakow.