Tel Aviv
Elul
September, 2022

slichot, slichos, shirat david, high holidays, shlomo katz, shirat david, efrat

When looking into the Slichot prayers, one notices that very little has to do with asking for forgiveness, as much as asking for redemption.

slichot, mashiach, redemption, shlomo katz, shirat david, efrat

When it comes to tshuva, the observant Jew whose tshuva isn't about starting to keep kosher or shabbos has a much more difficult task at hand.
Rav Setinzaltz addresses the difficulty as well as the beauty of what awaits this type of person.

torah, tshuva, repentance, shlomo katz, chabad, elul, rosh hashana, jew, shirat david, efrat

In this deep and stirring Elul episode, Rav Shlomo Katz reflects on a teaching from Rav Adin Steinsaltz about Tehillim 27 — “L’David Hashem Ori V’Yishi” — a chapter we say every day throughout Elul, but rarely pause to enter fully.

David HaMelech is surrounded by enemies. He’s under siege. And yet, his spontaneous, gut reaction isn’t a battle cry or a plea for escape — it’s a yearning: “One thing I ask… to dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of my life.”

 Why is that his instinct?

 What does it reveal about who David really is — and what does it invite us to ask about ourselves?

Rav Shlomo explores how it’s not in our crafted responses, but in our spontaneous ones, that our truest self is revealed. Elul, then, becomes not just a time to check off what we’ve done wrong, but to ask something much deeper: Where is my heart anchored? What do I truly long for when no one is watching?

Teshuva, in this light, is less about perfecting your record and more about redefining your belonging. It's about standing, even in confusion or failure, and saying: “Ribono Shel Olam — I want to be Yours.”

You don’t have to be there yet. But you can start.

elul, steinsaltz, tshuva, king david, chassidut, shlomo katz, shirat david

What place does learning have in the month of Elul, a month where the prayers and beseeching is generally highlighted?

rebbe, elul, torah, shlomo katz, shirat david

Based on the 27th chapter of Tehilim, a chapter we begin reciting daily during this time, Rav Steinzaltz ob'm provides us with a new understanding of the tshuva we engage with in this time.

tshuva, elul, torah, steinsaltz, chassidut, yamim noraim, shlomo katz, shirat david, efrat

Rav Kook's opening Elul remarks are for any heart that is open to learning how to cleave to what matters in this world.

rav kook, elul, shlomo katz, torah, eretz yisrael, judea, shirat david, efrat

Through a teaching from R' Asher Weiss, a deeper understanding of Slichot cracks open the heart and prepares us to usher in the new year in the most authentic manner.