In this week’s Maor VaShemesh on Parshat Bereishit, we explore three teachings about what it means to be human. The first begins with the creation of Adam and the remarkable idea that the possibility of teshuvah was built into us from the beginning. The Divine name Ehyeh, “I will be,” points to our ability to say that whatever I have been until now, from this moment forward I can become something different. A person’s failures do not have to define what comes next.
The second teaching begins with the strange description of the world before rain had fallen. Rashi explains that rain waited for Adam to recognize its necessity and pray for it. The Maor VaShemesh develops this into a teaching about yearning itself. When a person truly longs to come closer to Hashem through Torah and prayer, even the breath and cry that emerge from deep within can carry what words cannot express. When Jews gather together in prayer and Torah study, those individual longings combine and become a source of blessing for the Jewish people.
Finally, the Maor VaShemesh offers a striking interpretation of the serpent’s promise that eating from the Tree of Knowledge would make human beings “like G-d, knowing good and evil.” The temptation was not simply knowledge. It was the arrogance of believing that we know enough to judge another person, to decide whether their path is good or bad. We see what is visible; only Hashem sees the heart. True humility therefore means recognizing the limits of what we know about another person and resisting the instinct to define them by what we think we see. Meor vShemesh B1 Berishit 5787
Taken together, the three teachings offer a powerful picture of the human being at the beginning of the Torah: we are always capable of becoming more than we have been, our deepest yearning can itself become a form of prayer, and wisdom begins with knowing how much about another person we do not know.
Use this source sheet for further exploration of Parshat Bereishit, 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. 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.