On 19th and 20th June 2023, Krakow held yorcayt on 200th death anniversary of rabbi Kalman Kalonimos Epstein, also known as Maor wa Shemesh.

Kalman Kalonimos Epstein (1754-1823) was a Hasidic leader, also called Maor wa-Szemesz thanks to his work. He was a student of notable tzaddik: Elimelech of Leżajsk and Jakub Izaak ha-Choze (Widzący) of Lublin. In 1785, Maor wa Shemesh organised the first Hasid group in Krakow which was met with the official Jewish Community backlash.  He was cursed twice by the Rabbi of Krakow and his rabbinical court. His main work, Maor wa-Szemesz (From the light and the sun) is one of the basic Hasidic books.  Written as a commentary of the Pentateuch, it includes the description of life and the activity of several leaders of the Hasidic movement of those times.

Based on: Eugeniusz Duda, Żydowski Kraków, przewodnik po zabytkach i miejscach pamięci, Kraków 2023, p. 103