Explore every episode of the podcast Entering Yom Kippur with Rav Shlomo Katz

In this shiur on Shabbos Shuvah, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David explore why this Shabbos carries such a unique place within the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah.

Beginning with the Magen Avraham, Mateh Moshe, and Mareh Yechezkel, Rav Shlomo traces the origins of the Shabbos Shuvah drasha and the deeper reason this Shabbos became a time for awakening people toward teshuvah. He then turns to Rav Tzadok and the Sefat Emet to understand why Shabbos itself is a time of return, clarity, and reconnection to the deepest point of who we are.

Along the way, Rav Shlomo discusses Aseret Yemei Teshuvah as “days of wet cement,” the meaning of ruach shtus, the difference between our mistakes and our essential identity, and why Shabbat Shuvah gives us a unique opportunity to decide who we want to become while the year is still taking shape.

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 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

CHAPTERS
00:00 Opening Chant and Sponsorship Announcements
06:41 Introducing the Shabbat Shuvah Lecture
07:42 Magen Avraham on the Name Shabbat Shuvah
10:02 Mateh Moshe's Explanation of Shabbat Shuvah
11:28 Midrash Proof Linking Drasha to Kapparah
13:49 Mareh Yechezkel on Naming After the Haftarah
15:41 Aseret Yemei Teshuvah as a Chol Hamoed
23:48 Rabbi Tzadok on Teshuvah Specific to Shabbat Shuvah
29:01 Introducing Sefat Emet on Shabbat Shuvah
30:07 Chazal on Ruach Shtus and Sin
31:42 Sefat Emet on Shabbat Clarity and Responsibility
33:17 Ruach Shtus as a Michshol (Stumbling Block)
35:18 World Returning: Shabbat Shuvah Makes Change Easier

There are things in life that, at a certain point, we simply decide are impossible.

Maybe I tried enough times. Maybe too much time has passed. Maybe I missed the opportunity. Maybe this is just who I am, and part of growing up is learning to accept it.

But what if Yom Kippur asks us to question some of those conclusions?

In this shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David learn an extraordinary piece from Rav Adin Steinsaltz built around one of the deepest ideas in Chazal: teshuvah existed before the world was created. And if time, space, and all the normal rules of this world came afterward, then there is something about teshuvah that simply does not play by those rules. 

We explore why our souls came down into this world in the first place, what it means to “raise the heavens,” and a vision of teshuvah that goes far beyond regretting our aveiros. What about the mitzvos we did that could have been so much more? The opportunities we were afraid to take? The years and moments we still look back on and wish had gone differently?  

Rav Steinsaltz gives us a radically different way of entering Yom Kippur: not simply trying to clean up what went wrong, but discovering that through a connection to the Infinite, even the places we thought were finished can somehow be lifted.

Maybe Yom Kippur isn't the day to make peace with what is impossible.

Maybe it's the one day of the year to ask whether it was ever really impossible at all. 

  
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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

Chapters
00:00 Opening Sponsorship & Yom Kippur
03:18 My Rav Steinsaltz Airport Story
05:35 Acceptance and the Primacy of Teshuvah
08:22 Hebrew, English & Opening Our Hearts
11:38 Why Did the Soul Descend to This World?
13:17 Raising the Heavens: The Soul's Purpose
19:41 Teshuvah Beyond Time and Space
22:02 Rav Steinsaltz on the Full Scope of Teshuvah
23:38 Can Teshuvah Change Your Past?
24:54 What Does It Mean to Raise the Heavens?
27:49 The Cloud Metaphor for Complete Forgiveness
29:19 When the Clouds Completely Disappear
31:01 Marriage and the Depth of True Forgiveness
39:19 Parenting and the Limits of Teshuvah
40:43 Repenting for the Opportunities We Missed
46:40 לפני השם תטהרו: Becoming Completely Pure
47:45 Why We Will Inevitably Sin Again
48:49 Finding Time for Yom Kippur as a Parent
50:11 Touching the Infinite
51:48 Shlomi Shabbat and אין עוד מלבדו
54:34 The אין עוד מלבדו Moment of Yom Kippur
55:40 Closing Blessing: Take This Torah With You

What if the deepest teshuvah we do before Yom Kippur has almost nothing to do with our sins?

We spend Elul looking backward. We make a cheshbon hanefesh. We think about what went wrong, whom we hurt, where we fell short. And then suddenly we enter Aseret Yemei Teshuvah—and the Rebbe says something extraordinary: the avodah of these ten days is not teshuvah for our aveirot.

So what are we doing?

In this shiur, we enter into the meaning of “Dirshu Hashem b’himatzo”—seek Hashem when He is found—and discover a kind of closeness that isn’t dependent on how good our Elul was, how holy we feel, or even whether we were looking for it.

Hashem is simply found right now.

And that changes everything.

We explore the difference between the teshuvah of Elul and the teshuvah ila’ah of Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, why “Shuvah Yisrael ad Hashem Elokecha” is ultimately about returning the soul to its source, and why Yom Kippur culminates not in shame, but in אחת—bringing every scattered piece of ourselves back to One.

The question of these days is no longer only, “What did I do wrong?”

It becomes something much deeper:

Hashem is here. What am I going to do with that?

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

Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOh hPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

CHAPTERS
00:00 Opening & Sponsorships
01:11 Tefillah Must Go Up—and Come Back Down
03:05 A Mother Asks for a “Soul Doctor”
04:52 What Does בהמצאו Really Mean?
06:04 Is the King Still in the Field?
07:39 Aseret Yemei Teshuvah Aren’t About Sins
09:22 Why We Enter These Days Wearing White
10:44 שובה ישראל עד ה׳ אלוקיך
12:37 What Are the Marching Orders?
15:28 Returning Everything Back to One
33:07 Hashem Is Already Moving Through Am Yisrael
43:28 Avinu Malkeinu: Just Get Closer

Join Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David as we step from the awe of Rosh Hashanah into the יום של אמת of Yom Kippur—where the day itself reveals who we’ve been all along. With the Shem MiShmuel and a luminous teaching from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, we learn that on Yom Kippur the מידת האמת shines, the עצם הנשמה is uncovered, and עיצומו של יום מכפר—the core of the day atones. From that place, even על חטא turns future-facing: “That was last year; this year you won’t recognize me.” And with the Radomsker Rebbe’s reading of the Mishnah, we enter the Kodesh HaKodashim carrying one short tefillah of the Kohen Gadol: לא להבהית את ישראל—Hashem, don’t let Your children live in fear.

Practical avodah to take into Yom Kippur:
• Learn 10 quiet minutes before Kol Nidrei on מידת האמת—so the simchah of truth feels familiar, not foreign.
• Reframe על חטא: name one pattern from last year, then write its new, honest opposite for this year.
• Two moments of “eye contact” with Hashem (no words): once after Ashamnu, once before Ne’ilah—let the neshama speak.
• Whisper the Kohen Gadol’s line during Ne’ilah: לא להבהית את ישראל—and include tefillah for our soldiers and the return of all captives.
• Leave with one small kabbalah of emet—a truthful act you can keep the morning after.

May the Ribbono Shel Olam let us meet our truest self this Yom Kippur—חבוקה ודבוקה בך—and write us all into a year where truth dissolves fear, and the light of atonement becomes everyday life.

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

Join the WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOhhPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t

With the help of Reb Tzadok, the Netivot Shalom and Rav Kook, we delve into the gentle and beautiful Shabbos between Yom Kippur and Succos.

What if the most important part of Yom Kippur… is what happens after?

Join Rav Shlomo Katz and explore the deep spiritual power of the days between Yom Kippur and Sukkos — a window of light often overlooked but filled with holiness and potential. Drawing on Chazal, Rav Kook, the Piaseczner Rebbe, and teachings from Rav Moshe Weinberger, Rav Shlomo teaches us that true taharah (purity) isn’t achieved in the Yom Kippur experience, but as we emerge from it, feet dripping from the Mikvah, hearts wide open.

We are no longer in the angelic zone of Yom Kippur… and that’s the point. Now is when we bring that light into real life.

Rav Kluger brings us to the innermost point of Yom Kippur - the heart of the Kohen Gadol.

In this soul-stirring shiur, delivered during the Ten Days of Teshuva, Rav Shlomo Katz opens our hearts to the sacred intersection of Shabbos, parenting, and Yom Kippur. Drawing from deep Chassidic sources, personal memories, and lived Torah, he reveals how the everyday moments at the Shabbos table can become the most powerful acts of teshuva — and how our children absorb far more from who we are than from what we say.

We journey through stories of sincerity, childhood impressions, and Rav Shlomo’s own father’s Yom Kippur avodah to uncover the real power of Hiddur Mitzvah — beautifying even the “small” things that don’t appear in halachic books, but shape the soul of a home.

Whether you're reflecting on your Yom Kippur, building a Jewish home, or wondering where to begin again, this episode is a heart map for meaningful living.

How does G-d's forgiveness work?
Rav Steinzaltz helps understand the deepest depths of the light that comes down on this day.

torah, yom kippur, rambam, rav kook, zohar, steinzaltz, shlomo katz, shirat david

The potent light that comes down while fasting on Yom Kippur

rebbe nachman, likutei moharan, yom kippur, fasting, shlomo katz, shirat david, torah, israel

Yom Kippur Prep - Niggunim and Words from the Soul
Le'iluyi Nishmat Dr. Dodi Tobin z'l

yom kippur, lemaancha, torah, shlomo katz

Based on the teachings of Rav Erez Moshe Doron, we delved into the 179th teaching in Likkutei Moharan, where we internalize the gift and responsibility of making sure we are not just alive, but bringing more life into every single day.

yom kippur, rebbe nachman, torah, eretz yisrael, october 7th, shlomo katz, shirat david

Rav Asher Weiss points us in the direction of the heroism of Rebbe Akiva, to understand how Yom Kippur is still alive in our lives today.

Based on the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, we delved into the essential wonder and beauty of this day, attempting to remove all anxiety and stress-related emotions that this day may bring up.

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discovering the inner essence of the simcha of Yom Kippur

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based on the teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach ob'm

October, 2016, Efrat

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based on the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook ztz'l

Class given in Efrat, October, 2016

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To sponsor a daily/weekly Shiur click here
To make a donation to the Shirat David Foundation click here
To subscribe to the mailing list click here