What does it really mean to acquire Yirat Hashem without becoming anxious, rigid, or spiritually “small”?

In this Hachana L’Shabbos, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David zoom in on the words we often rush past near the end of bentching: “Yiru es Hashem kedoshav, ki ein machsor l’yire’av.” Rav Biederman brings a powerful teaching בשם בית אהרן מקרלין: if a person is truly chasing Yirat Shamayim, nothing is missing — spiritually and emotionally.

From there we open Rav Kook’s Middot HaRa’ayah and discover a surprising definition: real Yirah doesn’t weaken you. It gives oz v’gevurah, fills life with purpose and big aspirations, and elevates your talents with the light of a holy fire. And we clarify the essential distinction between fear-based Yirah (sometimes necessary as a guardrail) and Yirat Romemut — a higher awe that comes with ahavah and an inner Eden.

A practical, uplifting reframing of Yirat Hashem so your avodah leaves you feeling more alive, more courageous, and more connected.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Opening Nigun and Shabbat Greeting
01:43 Shabbat Welcome and Sponsorship
03:21 Benching Structure and the Rise Toward Mashiach
17:15 Exploring Kinyan Yirat Shamayim
19:26 Rav Kook on the Nature of Yirat Hashem
25:58 Distinguishing Fear from Awe in Yirat Hashem
27:12 Seeing Hashem Everywhere: a New View of Yirat Hashem
28:36 Fear (Eimah) Triggered by Seeing Hashem in Sin
30:58 Distinguishing Yirat Chet from Yirat Shamayim
36:49 Rambam vs. Ra’avad on Visualizing Kisse Hakavod
37:55 Rav Kook on Visualization for Higher Yirat Hashem
41:10 Yirat Romemut: Love and Inner Eden
42:18 Closing Blessing and Niggun for Yirat Romemut

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat Davud open a window into what really happens when we bentch.

Drawing from the Baal Shem Tov, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, the Chofetz Chaim, and Rabbeinu Bachya, we discover that Birkat HaMazon is not just gratitude after a meal. It is an eis ratzon, a moment when gates open in Shamayim.

When a mitzvah d’Oraita is fulfilled with presence and kavana, something shifts. A person is no longer standing in the same place. And once the gates are open, the question becomes: do we walk through them?

We explore why Chazal placed the Harachaman tefillos specifically after bentching, how true satiation comes from blessing rather than food, and how a Jew is invited to pour their deepest bakashos into the words of Birkat HaMazon.

This is a shiur about trust, dependence on Hashem, and learning to recognize when Heaven is quietly saying: now is the moment.

May we learn to slow down, to stay present, and to walk fully through the gates that open before us.

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

00:00 Niggun of the Baal Shem Tov
01:50 The Completeness of Torah: תורת השם תמימה
04:01 Blood Donation Example and Bentching Kavana
06:27 Ikar, Tefillah, and Dependence on Hashem
11:27 Harachaman After Birkat HaMazon
13:14 Minhag of Stopping at Yachasreinu
14:41 Benching Opens Gates to Heaven
36:48 Metzius and Davening Climax
38:24 Rabbi Chaya on Mitzvah Timing
40:46 Benching Series and Shabbos Focus

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 powerful story carried through generations, this shiur reframes benching as the heart of Jewish life — our past, our survival, and our future. When blessing is said slowly, with presence and kavana, it becomes a source of sustenance, dignity, and quiet strength that no circumstance can take away.

This is a preparation for Shabbos, and for living with inner satiation all week long.

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

00:00 Opening Niggun
02:15 Shabbos as the Source of All Holiness
05:10 Birchas HaMazon as the Story of Am Yisrael
09:30 Why Benching Requires More Kavana Than Tefillah
14:05 Mitzvos With “Mazal” — and One Without
18:40 The Real Meaning of “Ve’Achalta Ve’Savata”
22:55 Reb Shlomo of Karlin on True Satiation
27:10 A Story of Survival Through Birchas HaMazon
34:20 What Sustains a Jew Through Everything
38:45 Bringing This Consciousness Into Shabbos

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 Biederman: the ultimate Redemption won’t only be that things get better moving forward. Part of the redemption is that we’ll be able to look back and see that even the darkest chapters were never random. Not “hakol tov (It's All Good).” Sometimes it’s not. But hakol letovah (It's All For The Good). And there’s a world of emunah inside that one small shift.

We speak honestly about pain, and still we learn the avodah of holding on: to keep doing mitzvos, to keep praying, to keep singing… until the day comes when the heart can finally exhale and say: I thought it was the end… and it was part of the plan.

May this Shabbos bring us that calm, the calm that follows waking up, and may it open the door to simcha shel mitzvah, even inside the mess.
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For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com
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CHAPTERS

00:00 Opening Niggunim
06:40 Comment on the Niggun MakSim
26:02 The Nuance of “Hakol Tov” vs “Hakol Letovah”
27:16 Rav Biederman’s Message on Meaningful Suffering
28:34 Everyday Labor as a Path to Shabbat Honor
35:51 Finding Joy Despite Pain: The Reason God Blesses Us
41:32 Choosing Halachic Paths: Haloch Yeilech vs Bo Yavo Berina

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—mutzav artza, v’rosho magia ha’shamayma—rooted in the weekday yet reaching Heaven.

Through niggun, food, and consciousness, we discover how Motzei Shabbos becomes the bridge between holiness and ordinary life, and how angels ascend and descend with us each week. When we escort Shabbos with song, intention, and kavod, the light of Shabbos does not leave, it lingers.

This shiur invites us to slow the goodbye, to sing the Queen out gently, and to begin the week with dignity, simcha, and blessing.

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For more shiurim and music from Rav Shlomo Katz:
https://ravshlomokatz.com

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Chapters / Timestamps

00:03 – Opening Niggun: “Esa Einai El Heharim”
04:05 – A New Hanan Niggun: “Rachmana Libba Ba’ei”
09:23 – From Song to Torah
12:57 – What Is the Seuda of Motzei Shabbos?
14:19 – Shulchan Aruch: Escorting Shabbos with a Seuda
16:33 – Maharsha: Why Leftovers Don’t Count
22:16 – The Rizhiner Rebbe: The Ladder of Melave Malka
26:34 – Angels Ascending and Descending
29:16 – Escorting the Queen with Song
31:24 – Delaying the Goodbye: Tosefet Shabbos
33:00 – The Gra’s Rebbetzin and the Power of Melave Malka
36:10 – Closing Reflections and Practical Kabbalah

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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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