Isaac Schmidt's Musings on Karl Silbermann; Or, Our Golden Boy

Isaac Schmidt and Karl Silbermann used to break menorahs together as boys--accidentally, of course. Slight, retiring Isaac had always admired his brilliant best friend, Karl, but over the years he discovered, as he likes to put it, the truth: Karl's immorality goes far beyond anything that Isaac could ever imagine.

Now successful in their fields, Isaac and Karl still maintain their façade of friendship. Maybe it is out of convenience or maybe it is a longing for what perhaps can never be. Nevertheless, they are stuck together in Israel for a few months and Isaac is forced to see Karl for what he truly is: an indefinable glimmer of gold.