Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David open parshat Vayeshev in a way most of us never heard growing up. Instead of a childish tale of jealous brothers and a flashy coat, we meet two kings of Am Yisrael – Yosef and Yehuda – and an underground story of sacrifice, responsibility, and teshuva.

Drawing on Ishbitz, Zohar and Reb Shlomo Carlebach, Rav Shlomo explores the possibility that Yosef actually prayed to be the one who goes down to the exile of Egypt, taking the chains of slavery so his father and brothers wouldn’t have to. The brothers, for their part, are not cartoon villains, but holy tribes testing whether Yosef is truly one of them, and sending him off with tears and blessings. Yosef blesses Yehuda with the power of teshuva; Yehuda blesses Yosef with the strength to remain a tzaddik in exile – and both brachos come true.

From this hidden story of two kings, Rav Shlomo speaks to our own lives: what it means to carry pain for our family and our people, to do the right thing even when we know we’ll still need to do teshuva, and to hold both kochos – not falling, and getting back up when we do.

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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 Even Shlomo on the Parsha, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevre of Shirat David walk with Yaakov into the darkest, most misunderstood place in the human heart – loneliness.

“ויבשר יעקב לבדו" – Yaakov was left alone.” Reb Shlomo reads this night of wrestling not as a tragedy, but as the moment Yaakov’s deepest self is revealed on the night he receives the name Yisrael and gives every Jew the strength to stand alone until the dawn of Geulah.

Rav Shlomo Katz unpacks:

• The difference between crushing loneliness and a holy state of being levado
• How the revelation of your soul is really “finding out what Hashem had in mind when He created you”
• Why you were never meant to be an “identical bagel” in shul – and how to discover the one shlichus no one else can do
• The Tzanzer Rebbe’s radical teaching that the thing you most need in life cannot be written black-on-white in the Torah, so that you’ll have to seek it directly from Hashem
• Why real hisbodedus is not a mental-health “add-on,” but the place where Vayivaser Yaakov Levado becomes real in our own lives

For anyone who feels out of place, unseen, or “too different,” this shiur is a lifeline: a Torah that says your essential loneliness isn’t a mistake – it may be the only place your true name can be revealed.

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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 Even Shlomo on the Parsha, Rav Shlomo Katz learns a Beis Yaakov from Ishbitz on Yaakov Avinu’s first steps out into galus, and quietly rewrites our whole definition of “success.”

We follow Yaakov as he leaves Be’er Sheva and discovers that when you’re searching for Hashem, every step on the way already fills you, unlike the Western model where nothing “counts” until you close the deal, get the money, or hit the goal.

Rav Shlomo contrasts wanting money with longing for Hashem, shows how Shabbos and Matan Torah are tasted before they arrive, and opens up “ישמח לב מבקשי ה׳” as a blueprint for a different life: one where holy longing itself is already dveikus.

Along the way we touch longing for a soulmate, Messianic fear, Zionism, and why, if your spiritual search just makes you angrier, you might be searching for the wrong thing altogether.

This is a shiur for anyone burnt out on outcome-chasing who still feels a stubborn hunger for emes, for Geulah, and for a life where the journey with Hashem is not a consolation prize — it’s the point.
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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