is a man who is very close to God. In reality, Leo is uncertain about his faith, and is forced to admit that he is "not...a talented religious person." In a moment of forced self-reflection, Leo realizes that he "came to God not because (he) loved him, but because (he) did not."

Because of the questions Lily keeps asking him about his spirituality, Leo is convinced that Salzman has presented him as a pious man, which is not what he is at all, despite his chosen course of study as a rabbi. Leo feels that Salzman misrepresented Lily to him as well, because she is clearly much older than the twenty-nine years the matchmaker has declared her to be.

Leo is not sure what he is looking for in a woman, and comes to understand that he is sadly incapable of love. His requirements in a mate tend to be artificial; Lily, though she is "surprisingly sound" in his estimation, is not a beauty, nor is she young. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Leo is looking for excitement and sexual attraction first and foremost in a relationship, and Lily's probing questions about the nature of his spiritual life are disturbing to him, to say the least.

First of all, Leo is skeptical of the idea of a matchmaker.  Keep in mind that he considered forgetting the matchmaker all together and wondered if he should simply try to find a wife on his own.

The part that most disappoints Leo, however, is when Lily starts to inquire about his persuit of becoming a rabbi.  When he gives her an honest answer about his relationship with God (not because he loved him, but because he didn't) Lily is visably disappointed and ends the outing with an understanding that they cannot get married.

For two people looking to date for the purpose of marriage, this clearly means there will be no second date.  But more than that, this conversation leaves Leo with several unanswered questions about himself.  He begins to doubt whether he can love at all.

The central character in Bernard Malamud's story, "The Magic Barrel,"  is a man named Leo Finkle. Leo has spent the past six years of his life studying to be a rabbi, and- two months before he is ordained- he decided that it is time to marry. So, Piyne Salzman- the marraige broker- attempts to set Leo up with a high school teacher named Lily. Though Leo had expressed some trepidation in meeting her at first, he soon found Lily to be, "petite and not unpretty, had on something signifying the approach of spring. She was au courant, animatedly, with all sorts of subjects, and he weighed her words and found her surprisingly sound." Generally, he was impressed with her, and continued to be- until she asked him about his work.

It is a relatively standard practise- upon meeting someone and hearing their profession- to ask a person what it was that made them want to pursue a particular feild. This is especially true upon meeting someone who's path has brought them to teaching their religion. Lily, in a show of genuine interest, ask Leo, "When did you become enamored of God?" Leo then becomes enraged- seemingly at her age, her line of questioning, and Salzman's trickery. However, upon a closer reading of the text as a whole, we realize that it is none of these things that so disturb Leo. We learn that it is something within himself that he is disappointed with, something that is embodied in the years that he wasted pursuing a career that means nothing to him, the decision to go to a marraige broker to find a wife that also means nothing. He has found within himself neither a love for God, nor a woman, nor even himself. And it is this lack of love in Leo's life that ultimately disappoints him- not Lily.