Parshat HaAzinu
In Parshat HaAzinu the Maor VaShemesh offers a remarkable way to understand notzer chesed, God “preserving kindness.” Sometimes God looks ahead to the teshuvah we have not yet done, the mitzvot we have not yet performed, and the person we have not yet become, and gives us kindness now because of that future.
That gives these days of teshuvah a different perspective. Perhaps some of the blessings we received this past year were not rewards for who we were, but advances on who we might still become.
Teshuvah, then, is not only about repairing the person we have been. It is about becoming the person God has been waiting for us to become.
Shabbat Shuvah:
The Maor VaShemesh asks why the opening words of the Haftarah, “Shuvah Yisrael ad Hashem Elokecha,” address all of Israel in the singular. Drawing on the Gemara’s teaching that a person should see the entire world as balanced between merit and guilt, he explains that teshuvah requires us to act as though the world depends upon us.
Teshuvah may begin with the individual, but its consequences are collective: our choices affect our families, communities, and people in ways we may never know. During these days we naturally ask, “What do I need to change?” The Maor VaShemesh adds another question: How might the world change if I change?
Yom Kippur:
The Maor VaShemesh asks why the people in the Temple courtyard fell to the ground when the Kohen Gadol pronounced the Divine Name on Yom Kippur, when that Name was pronounced in the Beit HaMikdash throughout the year. He explains that on Yom Kippur, the normally hidden light of Keter was revealed, a holiness so overwhelming that the people could not remain standing.
He finds this hinted in the word “titaharu,” “you shall be purified,” whose numerical value, 620, equals Keter. Yom Kippur is therefore not only a day when we reach upward toward G-d through teshuvah, prayer, and fasting.
It is also a day when G-d’s normally hidden light reaches down toward us. Purification is something we struggle to achieve, but it is also something G-d bestows upon us.
Use this source sheet for further exploration of Parshat HaAzinu, complete with footnoted sources and a concise, footnoted bio of R. Kalonymus Kalman Epstein (Ma’or Va-Shemesh) to enjoy this teaching at your own pace, perfect for self-learners. Also, source sheets for Shabbat Shuva and Yom Kippur
Prepared by Rabbi Shalom (Saul) Orbach
The Ma’or Va-Shemesh is a classic Hasidic commentary on the weekly portions and festivals by R. Kalonymus Kalman Epstein of Kraków (1751-1823). A foremost later disciple, and for years the Shamash, of R. Elimelech of Lizhensk, he emerged after his rebbe’s passing as a leading figure in the fourth generation of Chassidut and of Polish Hasidism. His Torah blends close reading of the Psukim with mystical depth, emphasizing Dvekut, heartfelt prayer, joy, and sanctifying the everyday, with a hallmark leadership ethic: the tzaddik sweetens judgment into mercy and draws people close.