Yom HaZikaron: Remembering Our Heroes with Rav Shlomo Katz

Recorded on ערב יום הזיכרון, standing in the חלקה הצבאית of כפר עציון,  Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David reflect on what it means to stand among קדושים who gave everything for עם ישראל. Through the lens of חז״ל, the story of לוליאנוס ופפוס, and the halachic depth of מסירות נפש, a different picture of Yom HaZikaron begins to emerge. This isn’t only a day of grief. It’s a day of gratit...

In this powerful conversation, Rav Shlomo Katz sits down with his dear friend Justin Pines for a special episode recorded for JBS Network , in honor of a very challenging upcoming Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut . Together, they explore the sacred transition between Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut — the moment when a nation moves from mourning to renewal, from loss to life. Speaking with warmth...

Rav Shlomo Katz asks a piercing question: What am I doing with Yom HaZikaron today? Drawing from the Ben Ish Chai , the Arizal , and the Tanya , he explores the mystical meaning of mesirut nefesh —the willingness to give one’s life for the sanctification of God’s Name. Rav Shlomo reveals how, according to our sages, every soul that falls al kiddush Hashem creates a cosmic tikkun, a reunion between...

On this Yom HaZikaron gathering, Rav Shlomo Katz sits with Rabbi Stewart & Susie Weiss for a raw, heart-open conversation about memory, faith, and the price of coming home. Through song, tears, and stories of their son Ari Weiss z”l, they invite us into the sacred space where private grief becomes the heartbeat of a people. We hear what it means to choose life after loss, to hold fast to emuna...

In this Yom HaZikaron teaching, Rav Shlomo Katz draws from Eim Habanim Smeicha to reveal a profound truth — that teshuvah , the return to God, is incomplete without aliyah , the return home.  Through the words of Rav Yissachar Shlomo Teichtel, Rav Shlomo uncovers how the spiritual and physical journeys of return are inseparable: the soul’s longing for its Source mirrors the nation’s longing for it...

We went up to a mountain filled with holiness, Har Hertzl, and learned from the Noam Elimelech about mesirus nefesh, by the gravesites of 18, 19, 20, 21, and many other year-old soldiers who gave their lives so that we can have the privilege of dwelling in our motherland.

On Yom HaZikaron, Rav Shlomo Katz braids niggun, story, and Torah into a tender meditation on kedusha—holiness as readiness . From the Jerusalem siren that stops a city, to a moving encounter with “Ron,” an Israeli biker-soldier, Rav Shlomo reflects on the unseen holiness of those willing to take a bullet for Am Yisrael, and how that awareness should change how we live, love, and treat one another...