“You’re a wonderful-­looking man,” he said. “I envy you. Go in to your chest, then duck down, and when you come up, say ‘Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has kept us alive and sustained us and enabled us to reach this significant moment. Amen.’ ”

Hawkins repeated it, then slid down the muddy bank to the edge of the water. It was so cold it made his ankles ache, and he dreaded to think how it would feel when that water hit his balls. But he kept going steadily away from the shore toward the center of the moonlit lake. Because the bank was mud, he expected the bottom to be, too, mud and slime. But it was firm, a little rocky in places, but mostly solid ridged sand. A few feet out, he turned. Garfield and Tepel watched; the moonlight hit the brandy bottle. Tepel smiled and waved, and Hawkins went on. His genitals shriveled, and he thought all of his skin under the water had, too; then he was belly deep, then chest deep, and he ducked all the way under the water. He came right up, blowing, freezing, his teeth chattering. He thought he’d do anything not to go under again, and a wind came up across the lake and hit his wet skin. But the part of him that was underwater didn’t have any feeling and he stood still, water dripping off his hair down his neck and back, and he said the brocha Garfield had taught him, twice, and when he finished, he ducked again, and the water closed over his head, black and opaque like the water in the tarn he’d read about in a ghost story when he was a child. He came up and saw the men. Garfield was standing watching him, the moon was higher, and even though it was only April, he thought he heard some kind of insect buzz near his ear, and he ducked again. This time he stayed for a while, until all of him, neck, cheeks, nose, scalp, was used to the cold; then he stood up and waded to shore. He was exhilarated and he felt young and full of energy. He knew the moonlight was shining on his skin and hair and he wished Rachel could see him. Garfield nudged Tepel so he could watch their champion come out of the lake.

Garfield said someone had to go to the mikveh with her—to satisfy the ritual, he’d said. She had no sister and her sister-­in-­law hated her. She couldn’t ask Golda, because Golda would insist on knowing why, at her age, she was suddenly running to the mikveh, and Rachel didn’t want to lie about this. That left Kaye Kahn.