Ma’or va-shemesh (Light and Sun)

Kalonimos Kalman Epstein

1842

Leah and Rachel, the Hidden and Revealed Worlds

Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful of figure and beautiful of appearance (Gen. 29:17). Targum Onkelos renders this verse as “Leah’s eyes were lovely (ya’ayan), and Rachel was beautiful of form and of lovely appearance.” This translation seems difficult, since Targum employs the same…

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Creator Bio

Kalonimos Kalman Epstein

1754–1823

Born into a rabbinical family in Neustadt (now in Poland), Kalonimos Kalman “Kalmish” Epstein grew up in Kraków and came to be the foremost disciple of Elimelech of Lizhensk, a leading disciple of the Ba‘al Shem Tov. Epstein established the first major Hasidic presence in Kraków. His magnum opus, Ma’or va-shemesh, is heavily influenced by Kabbalah and contains both his teachings on the Pentateuch as well as his advocacy of the paramount need for tsadikim as role models. He did not establish a Hasidic dynasty, though his son Aaron succeeded him in diffusing Hasidism in western Galicia.

Related Guide

Rabbinic Scholarship, 1750–1880

Despite the challenges of the early modern period, rabbinic scholarship flourished in Central and Eastern Europe in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century. 

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