Leo Finkle Timeline and Summary

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• Leo is going to be ordained in a few months as a rabbi. It is easier to get a congregation if a Rabbi is married, so Leo calls the marriage broker, Pinye Salzman.
• Salzman arrives with his selections from his "magic barrel" of available matches.
• Leo explains his situation to Salzman.
• Salzman suggests a trio of women, one at a time; Sophie P. a twenty-four year old widow; Lily H. a high school teacher; and Ruth K. a nineteen-year-old girl.
• Leo expresses dissatisfaction with all of them: Sophie because she's a widow, Lily because she's too old for him and Ruth because she walks with a limp.
• Leo considers calling a different marriage broker in.
• Leo comes a bit unhinged and distracted by his thoughts all day.
• Salzman appears at Leo's door, saying that Lily H. is much younger than he initially said. Leo agrees to meet her.
• They take a stroll along Riverside Drive, and chat about their careers. Lily asks why he chose to become a rabbi. He answers "I came to God not because I love Him, but because I did not." (111)
• Lily is devastated by the confession and Leo is irritated at Salzman for his duplicity.
• Leo realizes that "he had called in the broker to find him a bride because he was incapable of doing it himself." (114) The revelation upsets him deeply.
• He calls Salzman back and asks him why he lied to both him and Lily.
• Salzman replies that he butters people up because "when I have two fine people that they would be wonderful to be married, I am so happy that I talk too much." (129)
• Leo tells Salzman that he no longer wishes to use his services, saying "I find it necessary to establish the level of my need and fulfill it." (135). Salzman leaves an envelope of pictures for him when he goes.
• Leo searches for love on his own terms, but can't maintain a decent social life.
• One night, he looks at the pictures Salzman left… and is struck with love for one of them. "It gave him the impression of youth—spring flowers, yet age—a sense of having been used to the bone, wasted; this came from the eyes, which were hauntingly familiar, yet absolutely strange." (143)
• He rushes to Salzman's house to ask about her, only to be told he's not home. Salzman is waiting for him when he gets back, however.
• He shows her the picture of the girl. Salzman "turned ghastly and let out a groan." The picture is of Salzman's estranged daughter Stella.
• Salzman runs out of the apartment, but Leo corners him and begs him to arrange a meeting. Salzman refuses.
• Leo tries to sleep, but can't. He "then concluded to convert her to goodness, himself to God. The idea alternately nauseated and exalted him." (189)
• He meets Salzman in a cafeteria some time later and begs him to set up a meeting. This time. Salzman relents.
• Leo and Stella meet under a street lamp while Salzman chants prayers for the dead around the corner.