Ayekah: Finding Your True Self with Rav Shlomo Katz

What do you do when you look around at your life, see so much to be grateful for — and still feel something inside asking for more?

Continuing through Rav Reuven Sasson’s Ayekah and the world of Rav Kook that stands behind it, we begin to hear that hunger differently. Maybe it isn’t ingratitude at all. Maybe the neshamah of this generation is remembering something bigger — a life of creativity, purpose, Shechinah, and the unique light that only each one of us can bring into the world.

The question may not be why we still want more. The question is what kind of “more” our soul is actually asking for.
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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

00:00 Opening and Sponsorship Acknowledgments
02:19 Connecting Torah to Our Generation’s Light
05:24 The Role of Challenge in Discovering Personal Light
07:08 The Thirst of Our Generation for Deeper Torah
10:53 The Crisis of Lost Individual Purpose
20:16 Rediscovering Unity Through the Shechinah
22:10 Experiencing Fullness and Natural Devekut
23:19 Imagining a World with the Shechinah
24:40 Meir Kahane’s Yahrtzeit and the Question of Jewish Clarity
25:58 Shechinah as Knesset Yisrael Explained
29:25 Redemption: The Shechinah’s Return to Full Health
30:43 Non-Apologetic Jews as Healthy Souls
35:39 Children Need the Shechinah’s Nourishing Light
39:13 Tattoos, Expression, and the Search for Identity
42:20 Esti’s Story: Revealing the Light of the Shechinah
45:10 The Shechinah’s Light Shining in Eretz Yisrael
47:05 Material Abundance and the Question of “More”
48:40 The Soul’s Inner Hunger Beyond Material Blessings
49:47 Distinguishing Greed From Spiritual Hunger

What if the overwhelming changes of our generation aren’t only obstacles we have to survive, but part of the way Hashem is pushing us toward something deeper?

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David continue learning Rav Reuven Sasson’s Ayekah and the teachings of Rav Kook that stand behind it, looking at technology, media, creativity, and especially AI through the question of Ayekah. As the line between what looks real and what actually is real becomes harder to see, maybe our generation is being asked to develop a deeper kind of discernment — and to rediscover the light of the neshamah that no technology can reproduce.

Maybe that’s part of the besora.

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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

00:00 Sponsorships and Acknowledgements
01:17 Remembering Dalia and Her Legacy
04:56 Leilui Nishmatah and the Significance of Ayekah
08:21 Recap: The Question Ayekah and Divine Value
12:42 Our Generation’s Challenge: Media, Competition, and Self-Value
20:37 Avoiding Foreign Influences and Discovering Inner Light
22:44 Rav Natan’s Lineage and Lessons
24:02 Rav Natan’s Humility and the Bagel Tale
26:02 Katamon Building, the “Haramat Kosit,” and Authentic Light
30:11 The World Pulls Us In — Guarding Our Inner Light
36:54 God’s Push: Growth Over Static Existence
38:54 Darkness as a Sharpening Tool for Our Light
40:02 Concert in Irvine: A Chasidic Exercise in Action
45:46 Revealing the Hidden Light Within Our Souls
48:37 Music Scene vs. Spiritual Emunah Songs
50:31 Pressure, Nudges, and Music’s Spiritual Impact
52:09 Ayekah: Dot or Line—Understanding the Question
53:43 Rav Kook’s Hidden Answers in Modern Technology
56:28 AI Realism and Developing Discernment
57:51 Responsibility Through the Question of Ayekah
1:01:47 Closing Remarks and Upcoming Sefer Arrival

Most of us hear “Ayekah?” and imagine a question filled with disappointment: Nu, where are you?

But what if Hashem asks because He sees something in us that we have forgotten how to see in ourselves?

In this shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David continue learning Rav Reuven Sasson’s Ayekah, a sefer that draws deeply from Rav Kook, Chassidut, the worlds of Chabad and Izhbitz, Kabbalah, and the inner work of avodat hanefesh. And slowly, the question of Ayekah begins to sound very different — not as disappointment, but as a reflection of how much Hashem values the light He placed inside each one of us.

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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

In this opening shiur of our new Ayekah series, Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David begin a journey into one of the deepest questions a person can hear: “Where are you?”

Based on the sefer Ayekah by Rav Reuven Sasson, this conversation opens the door to what Jewish faith really asks of a person. Not just whether you “believe in God,” but whether you are willing to live honestly, listen deeply, and discover the truest self Hashem placed within you.https://youtu.be/b92Muerrp1I

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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 Acknowledgments and Sponsors
02:10 Choosing Ayecha as Our Study Text
03:28 Hebrew Use and Israeli Youth in the Shul
05:06 The Primordial Question: Eichah
08:23 Self-Monitoring Our Thoughts
12:35 The Snake’s Temptation Explained
16:59 God’s Compassionate Question After Temptation
19:00 Inner Treasure: Discovering What’s Within
20:30 Yaakov vs Esav: Real Riches Defined
21:39 Inward Bound: Looking Inside
22:56 Midlife Shifts: When Something Changes
24:17 Opposite of the Snake: Embracing Light
26:33 Adam’s Question: Who’s to Blame?
28:01 Primordial Sin Explained
32:03 Addiction Without Substances
34:36 The Snake’s Temptation
37:04 News as Modern Crack
39:37 Davening and the Soul’s Duty
40:38 The Snake’s Crafty Deception
42:02 Concepts of the Snake’s Influence
44:01 Lost Child Story Illustrates the Question of איכה
45:17 Rav Chaim Kramer on Uman: Proximity to Hashem Guides Choices
47:47 Adam’s Son Reveals Teshuvah After 130 Years of Fast
49:37 Hearing איכה in Daily Life: Listening for the Divine Question
52:43 Avoiding the Trap of Filling Lack: Deep Birur and Authenticity
55:30 Mashiach as the Remedy to Lack and Future Learning