Latest Single off of  'Likrat Shabbat'
Purchase today: http://www.shlomokatz.com/music/likrat-shabbat

Guitars & Vocals: Shlomo Katz
Mandolin: Sruli Solomon
Percussion: Gilad
Violin: Oren Tsor
Bass: Koby Klar

Recoreded, Mixed & Mastered by Amit Golan @ SupersonicStudios, Jerusalem

www.shlomokatz.com

Veyeda Kol Paul - Shlomo Katz (Composed by R' Shlomo Carlebach)

Comparing this year's Purim to last year's is never ever good.
Where does it come from, and how to avoid it?

Purim w/ Rav Kluger (3) - The Sneaky Klipa of Haman - Rav Shlomo Katz

When Do Friends and Moments Become Awesome?

In this week’s Hachana L’Shabbos — The Shabbos between Yom Kippur and Sukkot — we breathe in the freshness after Ne’ilah and learn how to land with gentleness. 

Join Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David in learning from the Slonimer Rebbe: this Shabbos holds two lights at once— יום השביעי that carries the love and cleansing of Yom Kippur, and תחילה למקראי קודש that calls out the joy of Sukkot. 

From Rav Kook we receive the avodah of these days: to re-educate our return to olam hazeh with קדושה—less סבלנות (gritting teeth) and more הַמתנה (patient waiting as a gift).

Together we explore:
• Why this Shabbos can be the holiest of the year—where YK’s “בני, אל תמאס” meets Succot’s “זמן שמחתנו.”
• How to guard calm—כל מלאכתך עשויה—even while building the sukkah, chasing schach, and lists upon lists.
• A simple practice: welcome Shabbos with one conscious hamtanah—slow Kiddush, a softer niggun, or a whispered “thank You for letting me come back gently.”

May the Ribbono Shel Olam let our bodies be proud of our souls this week, as heaven and earth meet in patience, joy, and Shabbos-peace.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

The Shabbos Between Yom Kippur and Sukkot 5785

R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev and Parshat Bereishit on his Yahrzeit

In this week’s shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz continues our journey in "Know Your Children" toward a deeper parent–child bond—נפשו קשורה בנפשו / kesher nafshi—a two-way soul connection modeled by Yaakov and Binyamin. We review the “personalized funnel” of chinuch for each child and revisit the two loves that start every home—ahavah tiv’it (rooted in existence) and ahavah mutenet (shaped by traits)—then ask: how do we grow beyond one-way love into a shared inner bond without slipping into favoritism, enmeshment, or blurred boundaries?

Together we learn:
- Why every child demands a unique funnel from our heart to theirs—and why it begins with knowing ourselves.
- The limits of one-way love (newborn stage and trait-based affection) and the promise of two-sided connection.
- What “kesher nafshi” isn’t: dependency, replacing clear expectations, or making our child responsible for our feelings.
- How to model kibbud av va’em, set invitations (not ultimatums), and keep the family as the first lab for reciprocal relationships.
- Seeing our children inside Nishmat Kelal Yisrael—love that holds the individual and the bigger picture.

Practical takeaways:
- This week, offer one “invitation without expectation” for connection (walk, note, shared task) tailored to that child’s language of love.
- Before correction, ask: Am I speaking from ahavah tiv’it or from my need to feel loved? Adjust tone accordingly.
- Name and protect boundaries that keep closeness healthy (sleep, devices, respectful speech), so kesher can grow safely.

L’ilui nishmat Batya Feiga bat Yisrael, Levi ben Yosef; for refuah sheleimah of Aliza Chana bat Naomi—tachat sha’arei shamayim.

For more Shiurim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz’s WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Aiming Towards a Kesher Nafshi

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn Reb Usher’s short but piercing letter about the “game” Hashem set into creation: neshamas sent into gufim—so that our way to powers lema’alah min ha’teva (above our nature) actually runs through the body, not around it. We explore free will in real time (not acting on every thought), the danger of turning streaks of self-control into self-worship, and the quiet addiction to feeling like a victim. The avodah is to notice the strength we’re given, trace it back to its Source, and live like a baby held by its mother—safe, nourished, and not compelled by every impulse.

Topics include:
“The game”: souls in bodies—why access to kochos she’me’al hateva is davka through the guf.
Bechira in the moment: thoughts arise constantly; emunah means I don’t have to act on them.
Streaks vs. Source: when discipline becomes ego-service—and how to turn victories into thanksgiving.
The quiet pleasure of sadness: how victimhood removes responsibility—and how to break its spell.
“Like a baby in its mother’s arms”: cultivating felt safety with Hashem to dissolve compulsion.
Reading the paragraph again (and again): training the eye to see that every strength is a gift.
Touching Or HaGanuz—the light of Bereishit—without pretending we’re perfect.
—
 For more Shiurim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode

11. Accessing Supernatural Powers

In this week’s Hachana L’Shabbos, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David enter the niggun of “ה׳ רֹעִי לֹא אֶחְסָר” and ask a very simple, very brave question: am I still wrestling with life, or am I letting the Shepherd lead?

Together we learn that Shalosh Seudos is an עת רצון to be led: to discover what we truly want, to cry for it, and to begin living it now. From the Slonimer and the mefarshim on Tehillim 23, and from the image of ra’aya meheimna (Moshe the “faithful shepherd”), we hear that leaders don’t just inspire. They plant אמונה until following Hashem becomes natural, not forced.

We explore:

Why “Hashem is my Shepherd” is not poetry but a posture: when He’s leading, what am I really lacking?

The animal-market mashal: resisting the pull of the Shepherd bruises us; softening to His guidance brings calm and protection.

Yaakov’s secret—“הָאֱ-לֹקִים הָרֹעֶה אֹתִי… עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה”: a lifetime of hard chapters without losing the Shepherd-consciousness.

What true ביטול looks like (not becoming “gefilte-fish frum,” but awake, dignified surrender).

Practice for this Shabbos: choose one place you’ve been fighting reality. During Shalosh Seudos, whisper: “Ribono Shel Olam, You are my Shepherd here too.” Then let your next small step follow, not drag.

May we merit to feel guided, guarded, and gently gathered, so our bodies stop bracing, our hearts stop bruising, and Shabbos becomes the pasture of trust.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Has God Become Your Shepherd Yet?

In this week’s shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz asks the heart-level question: Do I Want to Know My Child’s World?

We deepen last week’s kesher nafshi—a two-way soul-bond—by facing a common gap: many parents are pouring from their world into children living in a different one. Without curiosity and reciprocity, the funnel leaks; with it, chinuch can finally land.

Together we learn:
- Why a mutual bond (ke-mayim ha-panim) is the only stable “funnel” for real chinuch.
- How to enter a child’s dor (generation) with humility—see, listen, learn—before you speak.
- The difference between organic kibbud av va’em and guilt-based demands—and how to keep it gentle.
- Why relying on “passive osmosis” (they’ll just pick it up) isn’t a shittah—we need a conscious method.
- Creation’s order as a model: a spousal kesher of mutuality precedes and teaches the parent–child bond.

Practical takeaways:
- Schedule one curiosity block this week (10–15 min): ask about their music, friends, game, class—no fixing, just “teach me your world.”
- Before giving mussar, ask: Do I have a funnel here? If not, build it first (listen, reflect back, then speak briefly).
- Name one gentle boundary that keeps connection safe (tone, timing, devices), and keep it with consistency and warmth.
----------
L’ilui nishmat Batya Feiga bat Yisrael; Levi ben Yosef; Avraham Mordechai ben Yosef.
For refuah sheleimah Aliza Chana bat Naomi; Shoshana Yona bat Eidel—תחת שערי שמים.
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Do I Want to Know My Child’s World?

In Parshat Lech Lecha, Avraham Avinu begins the journey that defines what it means to be a Jew, and asks the question that still echoes through every generation: “במה אדע כי אירשנה” — “Hashem, how will I know that this Land is truly ours?”

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David explore Reb Shlomo Carlebach’s teachings on the Even Shlomo, uncovering why Eretz Yisrael is the deepest and most complicated question in the world. Through the words of the Aish Kodesh, the Izhbitzer, and Reb Shlomo, we learn that the promise of the Land is not a guarantee — it’s a relationship. A relationship that can only survive when it rises מעל הבחירה — beyond choice.
A connection that demands not just faith in Hashem, but a longing to hear directly from Him.

Takeaways:
– The bond with the land of Israel mirrors the bond with Hashem — it only lasts when it’s beyond choice.
– The hardest questions in faith aren’t a lack of belief; they’re part of how we stay in the conversation.
– Our generation’s holy chutzpah — to want to hear directly from Hashem — is itself a sign of Geulah.
– The question “Why is Eretz Yisrael so complicated?” isn’t a doubt — it’s a calling.
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Lech Lecha 5786: Why is Eretz Yisrael So Complicated?

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David open a tender gate into תפילת נשים: the gift of בינה יתירה—a woman’s inner knowing to separate עיקר (primary) from טפל (secondary). Returning to “לא תירא לביתה משלג כי כל ביתה לבוש שנים,” we hear how “snow” (the Amalek-cold that numbs holy feeling) is disarmed by a woman’s warm feeling for Hashem. With Sarah Imeinu and Rivka Imeinu as living guides, we learn how a mother’s כח הבחנה—her ability to detect what truly matters—clothes an entire home in confidence, prayer, and purpose.

This shiur is an invitation to trust that voice: to aim tefillah at what’s essential, to stop pouring koach into what doesn’t serve, and to let a woman’s daas build a bayit ne’eman from the inside out.

What you’ll hear

- “Lo tira…mi’sheleg” as Amalek’s cooling vs. a woman’s warming fire
- Rav Tzadok & Chazal on בינה יתירה: להבין דבר מתוך דבר in tefillah
- Sarah Imeinu’s clarity (גרש את בן האמה) and why Hashem says “שמע בקולה”
- Rivka Imeinu seeing through appearances: loving Yaakov, reading Esav
- Ikar vs. tafel: blessing your home by investing koach where it counts
- Why women’s tefillah is uniquely targeted—and how it protects “kol beitah”
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

A Woman’s Ability to Detect Importance

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David enter Mizmor L’David (Tehillim 23) through the eyes of Rav Tzadok HaKohen (ר׳ צדוק הכהן) and discover why David HaMelech shifts from לשון נסתר (speaking about Hashem)—“יַרְבִּיצֵנִי… יְנַהֲלֵנִי… יַנְחֵנִי”—to לשון נוכח (speaking to Hashem)—“כִּי אַתָּה עִמָּדִי.”

The teaching is piercing and tender: most of us turn to אַתָּה (You) only in the גֵּיא צַלְמָוֶת (valley of shadow), but the avodah is to live in אַתָּה even on the green pastures.

We sing the נוסח (melody) for Mizmor L’David that Reb Shlomo Carlebach composed at his mother’s levayah, and we learn how תְּפִלָּה תָּמִיד (constant prayer) keeps us awake to the מְנַהֵג לַבִּירָה (One who runs the “castle,” i.e., the world)—so we don’t need painful wake-ups. From a Chassid who broke his hand yet whispered “בִּנְאוֹת דֶּשֶׁא…”, to the line “עם ה׳—חוצים ים; בלא ה׳—אין עוברים מפתן (with Hashem you cross a sea; without Him you can’t cross a doorstep)”, we practice thanking, pleading, and noticing while the fridge is full and the house is calm.

Takeaways:
Train your heart to say אַתָּה (You) in moments of plenty—set two daily “calm-time” tefillos of gratitude.
Add a quiet Mizmor L’Todah (מִזְמוֹר לְתוֹדָה) before מִמַּעֲמַקִּים—praise before plea.
Place שִׁוִּיתִי ה׳ לְנֶגְדִּי (I have set Hashem before me) on your phone lockscreen; touch it before you touch your day.
When you notice success, speak out loud: “לֹא כֹחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי (not my own strength)”—and name one gift that clearly isn’t yours.
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t


Learning How to Cry Out When Things are Going Smooth

In this week’s shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz invites us to re-examine the core of chinuch: can a parent be both moreh (teacher) and chaver (friend) without blurring roles? We return to last week’s kesher nafshi (soul-bond) and learn why natural love alone isn’t the funnel—mutuality is. Around ages 12–13, many children feel, “You love me, but you don’t understand me.” The work now is to move from “I care about you” (אכפת לי) to “I’m genuinely interested in you” (מעניין אותי)—from giving gifts we think they need to discovering the gift they actually yearn for.

Together we learn:
- Why ahavah tiv’it (natural love) cannot replace a two-way kesher nafshi, and how that bond becomes the only reliable “funnel” for values to land.
- The shift from top-down instructions to du-siach (two-way conversation) that dignifies a growing child.
- “Chinuch al pi darko” as practice: joining your child’s world so Torah can join their story—and stay there.
- The “gift mistake”: giving from our map instead of their needs, and how to do a gentle birur ha-ratzon (clarifying what they want and what we want).
- The Chafetz Chaim at home: the recipe is parent-as-teacher and parent-as-friend—without surrendering boundaries.

Practical takeaways:
- Ten minutes of curiosity: This week, ask about one thing they care about (music, friend, game, class). No fixing; mirror back what you heard.
- Switch the verb: Say out loud, “It’s not only that I care, I’m interested. Teach me.” Then listen twice as long as you speak.
- Name the age-shift: Tell a 12+ child, “I don’t want to love you like a toddler. Help me love you like you are now.”
- Funnel check before mussar: Ask, “Do we have a kesher right now?” If not—build it first, speak short and warm after.
- Friend + Parent, not either/or: Clarify one boundary you’ll keep with consistency and kindness (tone, timing, devices)—so friendship never erases guidance.
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

My Child, My Friend, My Child

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a short but searing letter from Reb Usher Freund about what happens when pain starts to crumble. Writing to a woman trapped in an agunah reality, Reb Usher validates the anguish, and then reframes it: pain can be a cleansing wash (רחיצת שמלה) that scrubs away stains; the process still hurts, but accepted with love it stops being torture and begins to reveal Or Shivat HaYamim (the primordial “seven-day light). “Ketz sam la’choshech”— there is an end to darkness, and it arrives faster when we choose patience, prayer, and love over despair and victim-identity.

Topics include:
- “Ketz la’choshech” is real: why every darkness has an end even when you can’t imagine it.
- The wash-metaphor: רחיצה מכאיבה—how cleansing pain works, and how קבלה באהבה changes the experience (not always the facts).
- Validation before mussar: being seen as the gateway to healing influence.
- Pain vs. suffering: pain can be involuntary; suffering is often a choice of stance.
- Birth pangs & geulah: why labor-level pain hints at a light that follows.
- Where בחירה sits: tending to my nefesh and avodah even when others misuse theirs.
- From “worshipping the wound” to Bnei Emunah—trading victimhood for partnership with Hashem.

—
 For more Shiurim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz’s WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

12. When the Pain Starts to Crumble

In Vayera, the name Yitzchak —“laughter”— opens a window into two kinds of kedushah: the holiness we build through our choices, and the inborn holiness that no failure can touch. On Reb Shlomo’s 31st yahrtzeit, we sing, remember, and learn how courageous love makes our days longer and our lives larger.

Drawing from Even Shlomo, we explore why the world “burst into laughter” at Yitzchak’s birth: Avraham and Sarah toiled for years so a new truth could enter creation: that Jewish children are born holy. From there, we look at how we can learn to see that holiness in ourselves and in others, especially our children, even when it’s covered by dust.

What you’ll hear
- Nigunim from the archives and the yahrtzeit story that shaped this week’s learning
- The two levels of kedushah: earned vs. inherent, and how to live with both
- Why Yitzchak’s birth changed human joy, and what “holy laughter” means in hard times
- Practical avodah: courageous love, giving kavod to children, and listening for the place inside that already knows what to do

Takeaways
- Your inborn kedushah is untouchable; your choices uncover it.
- Holy laughter = the shock of seeing that goodness is real.
- Give first honor to a person’s inner holiness and then coach the behavior.
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Vayera 5786: The Secret of Laughter on Reb Shlomo's 31st Yahrtzeit

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a fierce, yet compassionate, letter from Reb Usher Freund on what to do precisely when, in holy moments, the mind floods with מחשבות זרות—blurry, intrusive, and confusing thoughts. Instead of spiraling into self-hatred, Reb Usher reframes them as invitations to ביטול/אין: not “I am garbage,” but “I’m held and that my strength is borrowed Light.” 

We explore how recognizing our true value as receivers gives us real contro, not over what thoughts appear, but over how we respond. With Tehillim’s “הוציאה ממסגר נפשי,” the image of the loyal בהמה to its master, and Avraham’s “ואנכי עפר ואפר,” the shiur charts a path to turn rent-free thoughts into rent-paid growth.

Topics include:

- Why bad thoughts show up in good places—and why that doesn’t define you.
- “Control” redefined: not stopping thoughts, but steering response.
- Living with thoughts vs. warring with them; tasting ביטול without falling into ייאוש.
- “בהמות הייתי עמך”: learning holy surrender from a loyal animal to its Master.
- “הוציאה ממסגר נפשי”: escaping the hamster-wheel mind.
-Avraham’s “ואנכי עפר ואפר” as the gateway to deepest strength.
- Turning confusion into clarity: from rent-free to rent-due.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

13. The Gifts that Emerge from Confusing Thoughts

Chayei Sara is the world after the Akeidah: how Avraham and Yitzchak walked back into life with new eyes, and how we’re meant to daven with those eyes today.

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevre of Shirat David learn a short, potent piece from Reb Carlebach's Even Shlomo about מיחדות—that inner point of “what’s special” inside every Jew—and why Yitzchak and Rivka’s shidduch had to be more than “compatible”; it had to be
"special meets special."

From Eliezer’s test at the well, to zeh Keili v’anveihu (a personal, beautiful connection to Hashem), to the way Yom Kippur → Sukkah → Simchas Torah reconnects us to that inner point, we map how to find our word in tefillah, our portion in Torah, and our way back when we’ve gone external.

What you’ll hear

- Why after the Akeidah, ordinary compatibility isn’t enough
- How to help our generation by linking Torah to each person’s unique nekudah (and why they’ll keep searching elsewhere until we do).
- A practical path: Yom Kippur restores the link → Sukkah expresses it → Simchas Torah rejoices in it.
- The chuppah image: the kallah “points”—zeh zivugi v’anveihu—and how to bring that clarity into daily avodah.

Takeaways

- Ask daily: What felt special in my davening today? One word.
- Give first honor to the inborn nekudah, and then coach behavior.
- Teach Torah by matching it to people’s inner point.
- If you feel disconnected: rebuild with the YK→Sukkah→Simchas Torah ladder
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Discovering That Which Is Special | Chayei Sara

This week we face the question every home is asking: how do we hold yedidut (friendship) and mashma’ut (discipline) together—without losing either?

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David learn that Chazal’s path isn’t “buddy” parenting, and it isn’t cold control. It’s a 50/50 coin: authority on one side, friendship on the other—flipped together by love. The Chafetz Chaim’s home modeled chaverut with clear chinuch; the Rambam’s Ve’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha applies inside our doorway, too—yes, even toward our children.

Together we learn:

- Why “just friendship” isn’t a Jewish home, and “just authority” breaks the funnel (kesher nafshi) that lets Torah and values actually land.
- How to keep vision and boundaries without the belt, or the burnout.
- The daily avodah of seeing a neshamah, not a project: curiosity first, guidance second.
- Yosef’s middah as a parenting model: chesed and gevurah operating simultaneously.
- A practical liturgy for parents: entering a moment of conflict with “הנני מקבל עלי מצות עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך.”

Practical takeaways:
- Two-step before feedback: 1) Reflect what you heard (friend), 2) State the boundary and consequence calmly (parent).
- Name the coin: Say it out loud—“I love you as my yedid, and I’m setting this boundary as your parent.”
- One clear house rule: Choose one “non-crossable line” this week; post it, keep it with warmth.
- Daily 30-second kavanah: Before big talks, whisper the Ve’ahavta line above.
- Measure the funnel: If your words aren’t landing, build kesher first, teach second.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Harmonious Authority

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a fierce, grounding letter from Reb Usher Freund: why the most confusing thoughts show up specifically in the holiest moments, and how that’s not a failure but a signal. From the Kohen Gadol’s risk in the Kodesh HaKodashim to David HaMelech’s “beheimos hayisi imach,” we’re taught to stop panicking, return to bitul, and let those thoughts flip into emunah peshutah. Galus HaShechinah isn’t abstract. It’s the ache of not feeling seen - in tefillah, in marriage, in self. The work is to notice, name, and tether the mind back to “Imach,” and to cry over the right things.

Topics include:
- Why “bad thoughts at the wrong time” often mean you’re close to a real aliyah
- Bitul vs. despair: what ayin is and isn’t
- Yom Kippur inside you: more kedushah = more vulnerability = more opportunity
- Galus HaShechinah in everyday life: not being seen, and how to daven from there
- Practical tools to reframe, not repress, and to turn panic into presence
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

The Shechinah is in Exile. Don’t Freak Out

Toldot | Things Don’t Have To Take So Long

In this week’s Hachana L’Shabbos Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn that there’s a difference between believing in Hashem and leaning on Hashem. It’s one thing to say “I have emunah.” It’s something else entirely to make the Ribbono shel Olam your mish’enet – the crutch you actually put your weight on when nothing in your life logically adds up.

Through a piercing Midrash about a wanderer who calls himself “ben beiso shel melech” and the fiery Torah of the Piaseczna Rebbe from inside the Warsaw Ghetto, we hear that it’s not such a chochmah to believe when you can still see a plan. The avodah of a Yid is to say: “In my mind there is no way out. And still, Hineni – I lean on You.” That kind of bitachon, says the Rebbe, doesn’t block the shefa – it pulls the yeshuah closer.

This week’s kabbalas Shabbos work is simple and radical: find one place where you’re done trying to force a natural solution, and instead of spiraling, whisper: “Hashem, You’re my mish’enet. I’m putting my weight on You here.” When nothing adds up, that’s often where the deepest opening begins.

In memory of שלמה ליב בן רפאל גדליה
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

When Nothing Adds Up, Everything Opens Up

In this week’s Even Shlomo on the Parsha, Rav Shlomo Katz learns a Beis Yaakov from Ishbitz on Yaakov Avinu’s first steps out into galus, and quietly rewrites our whole definition of “success.”

We follow Yaakov as he leaves Be’er Sheva and discovers that when you’re searching for Hashem, every step on the way already fills you, unlike the Western model where nothing “counts” until you close the deal, get the money, or hit the goal.

Rav Shlomo contrasts wanting money with longing for Hashem, shows how Shabbos and Matan Torah are tasted before they arrive, and opens up “ישמח לב מבקשי ה׳” as a blueprint for a different life: one where holy longing itself is already dveikus.

Along the way we touch longing for a soulmate, Messianic fear, Zionism, and why, if your spiritual search just makes you angrier, you might be searching for the wrong thing altogether.

This is a shiur for anyone burnt out on outcome-chasing who still feels a stubborn hunger for emes, for Geulah, and for a life where the journey with Hashem is not a consolation prize — it’s the point.
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Vayetze | When I Long for Holiness, I’m Already Where I Want To Be

In this Chanukah prep shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a piece from Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh, based on a sicha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe from 5714 (1954), contrasting two very different kinds of light: the light of the Menorah in the Beit HaMikdash and the light of our little Chanukah flames today.

The Menorah of the Mikdash shone in a time of shleimut – when the Shechinah was revealed, when life in Am Yisrael was “hakol sababa,” full and bright. Seven branches, lit in broad daylight, from inside the Beit HaMikdash outwards – a light of harmony, order, and holy routine.

Chanukah light is born somewhere else entirely. It comes out of war on the Jewish soul, from thick darkness, from galut that still hasn’t ended. One small candle at the doorway, after night has already fallen, insisting on shining.

In this shiur we learn how Ner Chanukah reveals the eitan sheba’neshama – the indestructible point inside every Jew that often only wakes up when something is missing, when the heart is breaking. Together we explore why our generation is so deeply connected to Chanukah light, how “seven” (Beit HaMikdash) becomes “eight” (me’al ha’teva), why the oil of Chanukah is the sod of Torah the Baal Shem Tov wanted to bring to every Jew, and how a single “lonely candle” at your doorway can become the beginning of vayehi boker – a new morning of geulah.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Beit Hamikdash Light vs. Chanukah Light | Chanukah Prep

In this week’s Even Shlomo on the Parsha, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevre of Shirat David walk with Yaakov into the darkest, most misunderstood place in the human heart – loneliness.

“ויבשר יעקב לבדו" – Yaakov was left alone.” Reb Shlomo reads this night of wrestling not as a tragedy, but as the moment Yaakov’s deepest self is revealed on the night he receives the name Yisrael and gives every Jew the strength to stand alone until the dawn of Geulah.

Rav Shlomo Katz unpacks:

- The difference between crushing loneliness and a holy state of being levado
- How the revelation of your soul is really “finding out what Hashem had in mind when He created you”
- Why you were never meant to be an “identical bagel” in shul – and how to discover the one shlichus no one else can do
- The Tzanzer Rebbe’s radical teaching that the thing you most need in life cannot be written black-on-white in the Torah, so that you’ll have to seek it directly from Hashem
-Why real hisbodedus is not a mental-health “add-on,” but the place where Vayivaser Yaakov Levado becomes real in our own lives

For anyone who feels out of place, unseen, or “too different,” this shiur is a lifeline: a Torah that says your essential loneliness isn’t a mistake – it may be the only place your true name can be revealed.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Vayishlach | The Essential State of Loneliness

In this week’s shiur in The Power of Women’s Prayers, Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David go deep into one of the quiet superpowers of a Jewish woman: vatranut – the ability to let go, to give in, to choose the bigger picture over being “right.”

Drawing from the Biala Rebbe and the life of Rachel Imeinu, Rav Shlomo explores what really happened the night Rachel gave the signs to Leah, what it means to give up not just comfort but your entire imagined future, and how that mysterious choice planted a spiritual DNA in every Jewish woman until today.

Why do women keep saying “yes” when they could so easily say “I’ve done enough”? Why do they bring more children into the world than the bare halachic minimum? Why do they keep cooking, caring, holding families together long after anyone would say they’re “yotzei”?

In this shiur we learn how those daily acts of letting things slide, forgiving, giving way, and going beyond the letter of the law become the very reason our tefillos break through the locked gates of heaven and why Chazal say: “In the merit of righteous women we were redeemed – and will be redeemed again.”

A shiur of chizuk, validation, and gentle challenge for every woman who’s ever wondered if anyone really sees what she gives up.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

When You Let Go, You Let In Destiny

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David open parshat Vayeshev in a way most of us never heard growing up. Instead of a childish tale of jealous brothers and a flashy coat, we meet two kings of Am Yisrael – Yosef and Yehuda – and an underground story of sacrifice, responsibility, and teshuva.

Drawing on Ishbitz, Zohar and Reb Shlomo Carlebach, Rav Shlomo explores the possibility that Yosef actually prayed to be the one who goes down to the exile of Egypt, taking the chains of slavery so his father and brothers wouldn’t have to. The brothers, for their part, are not cartoon villains, but holy tribes testing whether Yosef is truly one of them, and sending him off with tears and blessings. Yosef blesses Yehuda with the power of teshuva; Yehuda blesses Yosef with the strength to remain a tzaddik in exile – and both brachos come true.

From this hidden story of two kings, Rav Shlomo speaks to our own lives: what it means to carry pain for our family and our people, to do the right thing even when we know we’ll still need to do teshuva, and to hold both kochos – not falling, and getting back up when we do.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Vayeshev | A Story We Never Heard Before

In this week’s Hachana L’Shabbos we step back into the holy words of Yedid Nefesh and learn a line that is daring, almost chutzpadik, and yet it’s Torah-emes: “אל תתעלם” — Don’t ignore me.

How can a Jew speak like that to the Ribbono Shel Olam? Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra learn that this isn’t entitlement — it’s relationship. Like a child speaking to a parent, when the longing is real and the yearning is true, a Jew has the right to say: Abba… please don’t hide. Please don’t turn away.

We explore what it means to call ourselves “בן אהוב” — a beloved child — and why that only works if we can honestly say “נכספה”: I’ve actually longed for You. Not longing for “things to work out,” not longing for Hashem to serve me, but longing to be an eved Hashem, to live close, to want kedushah for real.

Through Rav Biderman’s teaching, the “king’s palace” mashal, and a guarantee passed down through tzaddikim: passion is the ingredient that saves a person in this world, and even beyond. Not quick fixes. Not perfection. But an inner fire that keeps trying, keeps returning, keeps yearning.

Together we explore:

 – The difference between wanting results and wanting Hashem
– “Don’t ignore me” — when that’s holy, and when it’s just ego
– Practical avodah: how to build real longing so your prayers becomes honest and alive

May we be ambassadors of true passion — passion that leads to mindset, and mindset that leads to action.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Do You Have Passion that Can’t Be Ignored?

Chanukah is usually 30 minutes of candles… and then eight days of “okay, it’s Chanukah.” But what if the whole avodah is learning to notice what’s already happening?

In this shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David learn a short but powerful piece from Rav Ginsburgh that flips the way we think about the “two miracles” of Chanukah: the military victory and the miracle of the oil. Both are above nature, but they’re not the same kind of miracle.

The war was loud, dramatic, “split-the-sea” miraculous — and it came after Yidden cried out from below: Ribbono Shel Olam, save us. But the miracle of the oil is the opposite: it’s a miracle that, halachically speaking, wasn’t even necessary (tumah hutrah b’tzibbur). Hashem did it anyway,  not because we demanded it, but because He chose to come close and say, “I’m here.”

We explore the difference between miracles that break nature and miracles that quietly merge the supernatural into the natural — “התמזגות שקטה… שרק ניכרת בעיני המתבונן.” And we take it into real life: relationships, healing, growth, chinuch, the subtle turn of a child’s heart — the kind of “oil miracle” you only see if you slow down enough to look.

And then Rav Ginsburgh lands it with a stunning remez: Chanukah is not only Chanu kaf-hei (we “rested” from war on the 25th) — it’s also Chana kaf-vav: Hashem (26) “parks” with us… without being invited, just to show His chibah, His delight in His people.

This is Chanukah prep as a way of living: not waiting only for the loud salvations, but becoming a person of hisbonenus who can see the miracle of the oil inside your own life.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Noticing the Miracle of the Oil In My Life

Zot Chanukah is often treated as the end of Chanukah. But Chassidus teaches the opposite: this is where it finally begins.

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David explore the hidden depth of Zot Chanukah through a striking Belzer custom: singing Mizmor L’Todah specifically on the final night of Chanukah. Why does gratitude wait until now? Why wasn’t it possible earlier?

We uncover a powerful idea: for the first seven days of Chanukah, Am Yisrael was still unable to fully say “thank you.” They were impure, the Mizbeach wasn’t ready, the Beit HaMikdash itself wasn’t yet fit for korbanot. Everything was preparation.

Only on Zot Chanukah, when the Mizbeach was finally completed and Klal Yisrael became pure, could everyone bring a Korban Todah. Thousands of pent-up thank-yous, from years of waiting, finally poured out in one day. Zot Chanukah became a national Yom Tov of gratitude.

This teaching reframes the avodah of today:

Not waiting for a perfect ending to say thank you. Not postponing gratitude until the picture is complete. Learning to give thanks as soon as it becomes possible.

Zot Chanukah isn’t closure. It’s commitment. It’s the beginning of a year lived with awareness, humility, and gratitude.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Zot Chanukah: It Only Starts Now

Parshat Vayigash is the moment the Ishbitzer says is the closest we can taste in this world to what it will feel like when Moshiach reveals himself.

Because “Ani Yosef” isn’t just a plot twist. It’s the revelation that everything that looked like hester panim… everything that felt like an enemy… everything that seemed like punishment… was actually part of the process that “squeezed” a deeper YOU out of you.

In this shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David dive into the Even Shlomo which opens a daring question:
If not every Jew is always living on the level of kodesh… could it be that every Jew is still Kodesh Kodashim?

We explore:
- Why the Kodesh Kodashim is in Binyamin’s portion (not Yosef’s)
- The difference between being “holy” vs being Holy of Holies
- Why sinas chinam is uniquely incompatible with Kodesh Kodashim
- Reb Carlebach's radical lens: the Ba’al Teshuva doesn’t just need the Mikdash. He builds it
- What forgiveness looks like on the level of kodesh… versus kodesh kodashim, where the whole story dissolves
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Vayigash | Who are the Kodesh Kodashim Jews?

Some of the deepest pain a Jewish mother feels is quiet: “I don’t daven like I used to.”

Not because she doesn’t care, but because life is full. Kids. Home. Work. Mental load. A headspace that never fully settles.

In this short, powerful shiur from the Biala Rebbe’s Mevaser Tov, Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David reframe what “real davening” actually is: not only pages, not only a minyan, not only a siddur, but speaking to Hashem in the language of the heart.

Even one simple cry — “Abba… Abba…” — can shake the heavens.

We explore:
- Why the Yetzer Hara convinces women their “simple prayers” don’t count
- How Yehuda’s Vayigash elav teaches “Hashem-conscious” conversation
- The Modzitzer teaching: the ideal tefillah for our generation is like a child who can only say “Abba”
- The wild Midrash where one old woman’s simple request “outworks” an entire public fast

If you’ve ever felt guilt about not davening “properly,” this episode is a breath of truth, and a return to what tefillah always was.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

11. When I Call Out Abba, Abba

Waves are loud. Waves do big things. They rise higher and higher… and then they crash. And the chiddush is: that's exactly  what Hashem praises. Not the person who “arrived,” but the person who keeps trying to rise מתוך געגועים והשתוקקות — even when it didn’t work yet.

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn the difference between “success” in the Western world (goal-oriented) and success in avodas Hashem: not that I made it.... but that I didn’t give up. And how real yearning (“כי זה כמה נכסוף נכספתי”) can’t just be in the head. It has to move you, even a little, into action… because davening is called avodah for a reason.

Along the way, we connect:

- The wave that falls… and comes back again.
- Aharon HaKohen’s pain, and why Hashem says: your ratzon is greater than their korbanos.
- The koach of ratzon in Chazal (even when the full “result” didn’t happen the way you dreamed).
- Looking at another Yid with רחמים: maybe they didn’t “fall” — maybe they just came down from a wave.

May we merit  a Shabbos of deeper waves, deeper hishtokekus, and to look at each other with those eyes that give a person strength to rise again, and this time: deeper, wiser, stronger.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

The Waves of Our Soul

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David explore one of the most basic and most misunderstood foundations of parenting: love.

Not love as a feeling we assume is obvious, and not love as a concept we think we’ve already mastered. But love as mazón la’nefesh, nourishment for a child’s soul.

Drawing from Da Et Yeladecha, Rav Shlomo reframes love as an essential need, no different from food, clothing, or shelter. Just as a child cannot survive without physical nourishment, a child’s soul cannot grow without love that is given, expressed, and received.

This shiur gently challenges the assumption that “they know I love them,” and invites us into a deeper, more honest avodah: learning how each child uniquely receives love, how missed nourishment affects the soul, and why this is something that must be learned, prayed over, and renewed again and again.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Nourishing our Children’s Soul

In Parashat Vayechi, Yaakov Avinu gathers his children for what feels like the ultimate “final download” — He’asfu… and I’ll tell you what will happen at the end of days.

And then… it disappears. Nistalka mimenu haShechinah.

In this shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a short but life-shaping Torah from Even Shlomo: sometimes the deepest clarity isn’t prophecy at all. It’s the holy not knowing that opens a person into yearning, into tefillah, into real closeness.

We speak about what a parent wants most for their children, why “knowing how it’ll all turn out” can quietly shut down the heart, and why the night, when you can’t see clearly, can bring out the deepest kind of sight: “וכל עין לך תצפה” — a life of yearning.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Vayechi | The Clarity of NOT Knowing

Motzei Shabbos is often the most fragile moment of the week — when the light of Shabbos fades and old patterns rush back in.

In this week’s Hachana L’Shabbos, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a deceptively simple avodah that can transform the entire week ahead: folding.

Drawing from the Be’er Mayim Chaim, we learn that folding the tallis on Motzei Shabbos isn’t just a custom. It’s a spiritual practice. Just as a tallis is folded again and again until it rests properly, so too real shalom bayis is built through repeated acts of humility and restraint.

We explore:
- Why peace only enters a home after a person steps back from their “makom”
- How letting go — especially when you’re right — creates true blessing
- Why spilled wine, folded fabric, and Motzei Shabbos habits set the tone for the entire week
- How v’tur doesn’t erase truth, but allows truth to be heard

May we merit to carry the kedusha of Shabbos into Motzei Shabbos, and to begin each week with menuchas hanefesh, shalva, and bracha.

----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

Motzei Shabbos Folding

In this new perek of Da Es Yeladecha, Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David go straight at a question that sounds “too obvious” to even ask: why do parents need to love their children? And then they flip it. Because love isn’t just a feeling; it’s the soul’s nourishment.

From there, they go even deeper: love isn’t only what keeps a child emotionally alive. It’s the “pipeline” that makes chinuch possible. Without a vessel of love, guidance and discipline don’t land. They spill.

With a powerful mashal (Kinneret water needs a pipe) and a sharp Torah from the Mishkan (Moshe vs. Betzalel: build the structure before the tools), this shiur reframes parenting: don’t start with tactics. Start by building the home’s foundation of love, so everything else actually reaches your child.
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

The Essentiality of Love BEFORE Chinuch

In commemoration of Rav Kook's 82nd yahrzeit, this song was composed in honour of Rabbi Moshe Weinberger, a student and teacher of Rav Kook's Torah.

Singer of teshuvah, 
Are you yet born? 
If your soul is still bound
in the bond of heaven, 
The bond of life,
Descend to us soon.
Play your harp -
Let the down-hearted hear,
Let the disillusioned listen
To the murmur of your strings -
And be revived

Lyrics: Rav Kook ztz'l 
Melody: Shlomo Katz 

Vocals: Chaim Dovid Sarachik, Yosef Karduner, Eitan Katz, Shlomo Katz
Guitars: Yosef Karduner, Shlomo Katz
Bass, Piano: Yosef Karduner
Percussion: Yitzchak Attiass
Violin: Gadi Pugatch 

Production & Arrangement: Shlomo Katz 
Recorded at Supersonic Studios, Jerusalem 
Mix & Master: Amit Golan, Supersonic Studios, Jerusalem


www.shlomokatz.com

Meshorer Hatshuvah - Yosef Karduner, Chaim Dovid, Eitan Katz, Shlomo Katz

Cantor Avshalom Katz, Mochel Avonot
off the album 'Eilecha - Avshalom presents Shlomo & Eitan Katz'

http://www.shlomokatz.com/music/eilecha

Elecha

Mochel Avonot - Avshalom Katz

הסנונית הראשונה שרואה אור לקראת היארצייט הוא השיר לשנה הבאה – אותו הלחין ר' שלמה לכבוד שמחת השבע ברכות שלו- עצמו. 

New Single from upcoming album by Shlomo Katz, due out in January 2013.

11 songs which are all composed by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach ztz'l, yet never recorded or published by him.

This niggun was composed at Reb Shlomo's own Sheva Brachos, in December 1972



Rav Shlomo Katz

Popular tracks