The coming year is dominated by the Allied victory in World War Two, and the death of Franklin Roosevelt, which brings grief to the Malters. In addition, news of the Holocaust reaches American soil, which sends all the characters, especially Rabbi Saunders, into a state of depression. During the summer of that year, Reuven's father suffers a heart attack, and Reuven goes to stay in the Saunders home. At one meal, Reuven mentions that some feel it is time to establish a Jewish state, which sends Rabbi Saunders into a fierce tirade against Zionism; for the ultra-orthodox, a secular Jewish state established by man without the coming of the Messiah is against God's will.