Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Foundations of Chassidus with Rav Shlomo Katz
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your Small Mitzvot Matter More Than You Think | 09 Nov 2026 | 00:37:28 | |
What do we do with all the things we desperately want to become? Sometimes an awakening comes and we want everything at once. More Torah. More tefillah. More kedushah. More consistency. And then the danger begins: either we take on too much and it collapses, or we look at how far we still have to go and stop appreciating the avodah that is already ours. Continuing Yayin Yashan, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn through the Me’or Einayim, Pri HaAretz, Rav Avraham of Kalisk, the Ramak in Tomer Devorah, Beit Aharon, Pele Yoetz, the Chidushei HaRim and Rav Natan of Breslov. What emerges is a very different way of looking at spiritual growth: madregah after madregah. Slowly enough that it can become real. And while we’re climbing, learning not to belittle the ratzon, the small mitzvah, or the imperfect avodah we already have. Because the simcha of realizing, “This is my chelek right now, and געוואלד, I’m actually in the parsha,” may itself be what opens the door to everything we’re still dreaming of becoming. ------ 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 00:00 Memorial and Sponsor Introduction | |||
| The Danger of Becoming a “Good Enough” Jew | 04 Nov 2026 | 00:43:16 | |
There’s a very strange tension at the heart of avodat Hashem. On the one hand, a Yid has to be able to look at where he is right now and say: "Gevalt, how precious that I’m even here. How beautiful that I’m even in the parsha." And at the exact same time, something inside of us has to keep saying: "Yalla, there’s more." Continuing the learning in Yayin Yashan, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shriat David learn through the Pri HaAretz, the Degel Machaneh Ephraim in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, Rav Moshe of Kobrin, the Chovat HaTalmidim of the Piaseczner Rebbe, the Tanya, Rav Kook, Rav Dessler and a piercing mashal from the Kotzker Rebbe. How do we demand greatness from ourselves without despising where we are? When does something that once required real avodah simply become habit? And what happens when the ladder seems to have disappeared, but Shamayim is still calling us to climb? ---------- 00:00 Opening Greetings and Upcoming Events | |||
| 5 Things That Actually Matter in Avodat Hashem | 02 Nov 2026 | 00:45:19 | |
What deserves to be at the center of our avodat Hashem — and what was only ever supposed to remain secondary? Continuing the learning in Yayin Yashan, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David return to the framework of the Mesillat Yesharim and begins putting the pieces of avodat Hashem into their proper order. The question is not simply whether something is holy, meaningful, or even a good practice. The deeper question is whether we know what is ikar and what is tafel — and whether the things we add around our Yiddishkeit are bringing us deeper inside or quietly distracting us from the main thing. Along the way, the learning moves through the language of kinyan, teachings from Rabbi Elimelech and Rabbi Elazar, the inner work of hitbodedut, and the danger of allowing external practices to replace genuine inner growth. ---------- Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t 00:00 Opening Blessings and Sponsor Acknowledgments | |||
| Are There Places You Can’t Bring Hashem? | 26 Oct 2026 | 00:52:43 | |
How far does בכל דרכיך דעהו (In all your ways, know Him) really go? If the avodah is to invite Hashem into every part of our lives, what happens when the place we’re standing in is messy, compromised, or somewhere we know we probably shouldn’t be? And how do we distinguish between genuinely searching for Hashem from wherever we are and simply finding a holy-sounding way to rationalize what we already want? Continuing Yayin Yashan, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn through the Imrei Noam, Malchut Shlomo, the Mei HaShiloach of Izhbitz, the Baal Shem Tov through the Me’or Einayim, and the Piaseczner Rebbe’s Mevo She’arim quoting Rav Asher of Stolin. At the center is an extraordinary Chassidic idea: you do not have to wait until you have arrived somewhere spiritually perfect to begin looking for Hashem. ובקשתם משם — seek Him from there. From the place you actually are. But “from there” does not mean everything suddenly becomes permitted. That tension — between never giving up on finding Hashem and never using Hashem to justify ourselves — is where this shiur lives. ---------- 00:00 Opening Blessings and Sponsorship Acknowledgments | |||
| Discovering What I'm Dependent On | 21 Oct 2026 | 00:42:21 | |
What does it really mean to fulfill בכל דרכיך דעהו — “In all your ways, know Him”? Beginning a new section of Yayin Yashan on Avodat Hashem, we learn through the Me’or Einayim of the Chernobler, Mesillat Yesharim, the teachings of Peshischa, the Divrei Binah of Biala, Malchut Shlomo, Orchos Tzaddikim and Rav Shlomo Carlebach to ask a very practical question: what are the things I have quietly become dependent on? Not everything material is a problem. But when I begin to tell myself that I need the right circumstances, the right comforts, the right possessions — maybe even the right spiritual experience — before I can really serve Hashem, something has gotten between us. And from there we move into one of the most beautiful images in the shiur: being pulled toward Hashem like iron toward a magnet. Sometimes He has already been pulling us for years. We just had a completely different picture in our heads of what that pull was supposed to look like. 00:00 Opening Blessings and Sponsorships | |||
| You Already Have the Emunah You’re Looking For | 19 Oct 2026 | 00:39:21 | |
What if the emunah we spend so much of our lives searching for is not something we need to acquire at all? Continuing Yayin Yashan, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David enter the perek האמונה היא בירושה — Emunah Is an Inheritance, moving through teachings from Torat Avot in the name of Rav Noach of Lechovitch, the Baal HaTanya, Pele Yoetz, Bnei Yissaschar, Rebbe Nachman and the Maggid of Mezeritch. The sources describe a place of emunah already embedded in the Jewish neshamah — inherited from Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov — which can become covered, dormant or difficult to feel, but is never actually absent. From there, the question changes. We are no longer asking, How do I get emunah? We have to ask: What am I doing with the emunah I already inherited? How do we awaken it, shepherd it, talk about it with each other, and leave that same yerushah to our children? Along the way, Rav Shlomo reflects on Rav Leo Dee’s extraordinary words of emunah after tragedy, the life of Reuven Halevi, a survivor of Buchenwald singing Ani Ma’amin, and the teaching that stood at the entrance of the Maggid of Mezeritch’s Beit Midrash. The lesson is clear: Chassidus is not here to give you something you do not have. It is here to reveal what is already yours | |||
| What It Really Means to Love Every Jew | 14 Oct 2026 | 00:42:31 | |
What does Ahavat Yisrael demand when the Jew standing in front of you thinks, votes, speaks, or lives in a way that genuinely bothers you? Continuing Yayin Yashan, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David move through teachings from the Chiddushei HaRim, the Arizal, Sfas Emes, Divrei Binah, Rav Avraham of Kalisk, Maor Einayim, Rebbe Nachman, the Beis Yisrael and Reb Simcha Bunim of Peshischa to explore the singular place of every Jewish neshamah. Every Jew has a tikkun no one else can accomplish, an illumination no one else carries, and even a unique da’at Hashem that cannot simply be replaced by somebody else’s. And then the learning becomes uncomfortable. If the 600,000 root souls correspond to the letters of the Torah, what happens when we decide one Jew no longer belongs? What does Ahavat Yisrael mean across the deepest religious, political and ideological divisions in Am Yisrael? And can we get beyond saying that we “love” every Jew and learn how to actually like one another? ---------- Chapters | |||
| You Have No Idea What a Jew Really Is | 12 Oct 2026 | 00:39:17 | |
Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David begin the second perek of Yayin Yashan, Ma’alat Yisrael — and enter a series of teachings that are much harder to simply “know” than they first appear. Through the Ramchal, Baal Shem Tov, R’ Baruch of Mezhibuzh, the Tanya, Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Shem MiShmuel, Maor Einayim and Ohev Yisrael, Rav Shlomo looks at one of the foundations of emunah: what a Jewish neshama actually is, what happens in the higher worlds when a Jew learns, davens or performs a mitzvah, and why even the Jew who looks completely covered in schmutz never loses the essential kedushah within. Along the way, the conversation moves from Moshe Feiglin’s response to Tucker Carlson, to Jeremy Boreing’s recent Shabbos visit, to the Alter Rebbe’s astonishing teaching about what happens when ten Jews simply stand together. But underneath all of it is one question: what would our lives — and the way we looked at another Jew — actually look like if we had even a clue? -------- 00:00 Opening Greetings and Dedications | |||
| What God's Love is All About | 07 Oct 2026 | 00:43:05 | |
In this shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David continue learning Yayin Yashan and move through an extraordinary chain of teachings from the Chafetz Chaim, Chovot HaLevavot, Reb Aharon Karliner, the Me’or Einayim, Ma’or VaShemesh, Yesod VeShoresh HaAvodah, the Imrei Elimelech, the Baal HaTanya, and Yosher Divrei Emet — all circling one foundational point: what it means to actually believe in Hashem’s love for every Jew. These sources push us far beyond the idea that Hashem’s love is something earned through performance. They ask us to believe that His love and compassion are beyond our measurements, that every Jew can give Him real נחת רוח, and that even the smallest act of Torah, tefillah, or connection carries a weight we barely understand. ----- 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 | |||
| What Jews Really Mean by “Belief in God” | 05 Oct 2026 | 00:42:21 | |
In this opening shiur of a new series on the sefer יין ישן by Rav Nissan, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David begin where everything begins: Emunah אמונה. Not the thin version of faith. Not just whether God exists. But the kind of Emunah that changes how a Jew walks through the world — how we think about Hashem’s greatness, His closeness, His presence in the smallest details of life, and the love He has for every Jew. --------- CHAPTERS 00:00 Memorials and Sponsorships for the Breakfast | |||