Rav Shlomo Katz

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David step into a quiet but radical idea: food doesn’t truly satiate a Jew — blessing does. Beginning with niggun and moving into the inner meaning of Birchas HaMazon, we learn from Reb Shlomo of Karlin that “vesavata” doesn’t come from eating alone, but from uverachta. The real fullness is not physical; it’s spiritual. Through Chazal, Chassidus, and a powe...

Parshas Bo is not just the story of leaving Egypt. It’s the inner blueprint of freedom. Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David opens an Even Shlomo that sounds “insane” at first: why does the Torah say “וישאלו איש מאת רעהו” — “ask from your friend” — when it’s describing Egyptians who enslaved us? Why call them re’ehu at all? Because the night of Yetzias Mitzrayim wasn’t only an exit from...

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David dive into a short but piercing letter from 1975 where Reb Usher opens a window into the inner invitation of Rebbe Nachman’s Torah — not as inspiration alone, but as a demand for real inner work. Reb Usher explains that the stories and teachings of Rebbe Nachman are filled with hidden wisdom meant to guide a person toward absolute bitul, honest self-re...

Do our kids know we love them… but still not always feel it? Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David take on one of the most sensitive (and real) parenting questions: a parent can be full of love — and a child can still experience “You don’t love me.” How does that happen? Building off last week’s foundation (that a parent’s love can’t be “perfect” in the way we wish it could be), we explore...

There’s a certain kind of dream that leaves you with a pounding heart… and then you wake up, and the room is quiet, and you realize: it wasn’t real. And in that quiet, in that calm, there’s a taste of what Dovid HaMelech calls “היינו כחולמים”. In this week’s Hachana L’Shabbos, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David open up a life-changing lens from the Beis Avraham of Slonim and Rav Bieder...

There are moments in Judaism that don’t just feel holy. They’re wired into the world as an עֵת רָצוֹן (et ratzon — an auspicious “window” when gates are more open). Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David take one of the most familiar moments in a Jewish home — הַדְלָקַת נֵרוֹת (lighting Shabbos candles), and reframe it as a spiritual turning point. Not just “a mitzvah to do,” but a moment t...

This week in Even Shlomo on Parshat Va’era, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David go straight into the cry so many of us are holding: “Ribono Shel Olam… for what? Haven’t we been through enough?” Moshe Rabbeinu asks it too — and the answer isn’t a slogan, it’s a demand: Geulah is not “back to normal.” Reb Shlomo teaches that the world’s “unnatural” situation can’t last forever — but the r...

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David dive into a letter from Reb Usher that hits a nerve: what happens when you know you’re right… and it still doesn’t bring peace? Reb Usher takes us beneath the surface of machlokes and into the heart of the matter: the hidden “tzar hatzorer”—that inner dictator that keeps chanting “I’m right, he’s wrong”—and how it slowly disconnects us from the source...

In parenting, we want to believe our love is perfect — automatic, limitless, and always putting our child first. But real life has a way of testing that fantasy. Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David unpack a surprisingly relieving truth: a parent can genuinely love their child… and still have moments where their own needs collide with the child’s needs. Sometimes it’s obvious (work, exhau...

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David explore the avodah of Melave Malka not as a custom but as an act of love. Drawing from Shulchan Aruch, Gemara, the Rizhiner Rebbe, and the Shlah HaKadosh, we learn that escorting the Shabbos Queen is not about leftovers or convenience, but about honoring the Presence that filled our homes for twenty-five hours. Melave Malka stands as its own seudah—mu...

What if the Yetzer Hara isn’t “randomly” making tefillah hard, but specifically targeting the most powerful kind of tefillah? Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David learn a striking teaching from the Biala Rebbe: women’s tefillos — especially in shul — don’t just matter… they elevate the entire tzibbur. And that’s exactly why the Yetzer Hara works overtime with excuses, self-talk, and “it d...

Shemot: Have We Woken Up Yet? by Rav Shlomo Katz

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 ch...

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. I...

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...

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, clot...

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 succ...

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 minya...

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 o...

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 powerfu...

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 a...

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 y...

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David go deep into one of the most misunderstood lines in a woman’s siddur: the bracha “She’asani Kirtzono” – “Who has made me according to His will.” From Yud Tes Kislev to the Baal Shem Tov’s chiddush of pnimiyut haTorah, Rav Shlomo explores the difference between “doing mitzvos” and actually giving Hashem nachas ruach. Why is it possible to keep all the r...

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 a...

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, wh...