Learning From Reb Usher Freund zt"l

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David dive into a short but piercing letter from 1975 where Reb Usher opens a window into the inner invitation of Rebbe Nachman’s Torah — not as inspiration alone, but as a demand for real inner work.

Reb Usher explains that the stories and teachings of Rebbe Nachman are filled with hidden wisdom meant to guide a person toward absolute bitul, honest self-refinement, and a living connection to Hashem. Rebbe Nachman's teachings meet a person exactly where they are, without needing to become someone else first.

This shiur explores what it means to enter that “orchard”: letting go of our certainties, our spiritual clothing, and our need to hold onto identity, and allowing emunah peshutah to emerge from within our own lives. Not as a trend, not as a movement, but as a lived reality.
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Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David dive into a letter from Reb Usher that hits a nerve: what happens when you know you’re right… and it still doesn’t bring peace?

Reb Usher takes us beneath the surface of machlokes and into the heart of the matter: the hidden “tzar hatzorer”—that inner dictator that keeps chanting “I’m right, he’s wrong”—and how it slowly disconnects us from the source of life. The surprising avodah here isn’t winning the argument. It’s building a bris ahavah she’einah teluyah b’davar—a covenant of love that isn’t dependent on agreement—until it can actually spark hisnatzetzus Or HaGeulah.

And then comes the most vulnerable turn: the real tefillah of geulah might be only one word—“Ima!” The cry of a soul that’s terrified of one thing בלבד: being cut off from Hashem’s Presence for even a moment.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in a “right vs. wrong” loop, this one is for you.

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00:00 Intro
03:24 Covenant of Unconditional Love Explanation
09:02 Reb Asher’s Method: Uniting Diverse Groups
10:55 Digging Deeper Than the Argument
20:42 Consequences of Separating from Friends
22:14 Distraction’s Role in Breaking Unity
23:21 Prayer of the Poor Soul
26:43 Gates of Faith Open Before a Person
28:11 Ultimate Knowledge: Realizing We Never Truly Know
32:36 Cannot Control Others – Prepare a Vessel for Redemption
34:29 Entering the Gates of Faith – Touching Eternity
37:56 Stage Incident and Desire to Retaliate 
38:57 Choosing Silence – Walking Off the Stage
46:21 Closing Prayer and Invitation to Shul

This week, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David continue the letter from Reb Usher which deals with one of the most painful questions in real avodas Hashem:

Why do the dirtiest, most damaging thoughts show up precisely in our holiest moments – during davening, on Yom Kippur, when we finally feel like we’re showing up?

Instead of letting those thoughts “prove” that we’re garbage, Reb Usher flips the script. He teaches that these intrusive machshavos are not a verdict on who we are – they’re a wake-up call to who we aren’t without Hashem, and an invitation to deeper bitul and compassion instead of toxic shame and self-loathing.

Rav Shlomo walks us through:

• Why the worst thoughts so often attack us in shul, during Shemoneh Esrei, or in moments of kedusha
• The dangerous lie that “if I’m still thinking this, it must be the real me”
• How Reb Usher reads “don’t let it break you” – let your heart crack open to Hashem, but don’t shatter as a person
• The difference between healthy shiflus and the cycle of shame that actually feeds addiction
• What this all means for a generation raised on TikTok, over-exposure, and impossible expectations
• Why the Ba'al Teshuva has an advantage over someone who is Frum from Birth when these thoughts attack

For anyone who’s ever walked out of davening feeling like, “If people knew what was in my head…”, this shiur is a lifeline. Don’t let damaging thoughts define you. Let them become the place where you discover how deeply Hashem is holding you, every second.

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Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a fierce, grounding letter from Reb Usher Freund: why the most confusing thoughts show up specifically in the holiest moments, and how that’s not a failure but a signal. From the Kohen Gadol’s risk in the Kodesh HaKodashim to David HaMelech’s “beheimos hayisi imach,” we’re taught to stop panicking, return to bitul, and let those thoughts flip into emunah peshutah. Galus HaShechinah isn’t abstract. It’s the ache of not feeling seen - in tefillah, in marriage, in self. The work is to notice, name, and tether the mind back to “Imach,” and to cry over the right things.

Topics include:

• Why “bad thoughts at the wrong time” often mean you’re close to a real aliyah
• Bitul vs. despair: what ayin is and isn’t
• Yom Kippur inside you: more kedushah = more vulnerability = more opportunity
• Galus HaShechinah in everyday life: not being seen, and how to daven from there
• Practical tools to reframe, not repress, and to turn panic into presence

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Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a fierce, yet compassionate, letter from Reb Usher Freund on what to do precisely when, in holy moments, the mind floods with מחשבות זרות—blurry, intrusive, and confusing thoughts. Instead of spiraling into self-hatred, Reb Usher reframes them as invitations to ביטול/אין: not “I am garbage,” but “I’m held and that my strength is borrowed Light.” 

We explore how recognizing our true value as receivers gives us real contro, not over what thoughts appear, but over how we respond. With Tehillim’s “הוציאה ממסגר נפשי,” the image of the loyal בהמה to its master, and Avraham’s “ואנכי עפר ואפר,” the shiur charts a path to turn rent-free thoughts into rent-paid growth.

Topics include:

- Why bad thoughts show up in good places—and why that doesn’t define you.
- “Control” redefined: not stopping thoughts, but steering response.
- Living with thoughts vs. warring with them; tasting ביטול without falling into ייאוש.
- “בהמות הייתי עמך”: learning holy surrender from a loyal animal to its Master.
- “הוציאה ממסגר נפשי”: escaping the hamster-wheel mind.
-Avraham’s “ואנכי עפר ואפר” as the gateway to deepest strength.
- Turning confusion into clarity: from rent-free to rent-due.

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Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a short but searing letter from Reb Usher Freund about what happens when pain starts to crumble. Writing to a woman trapped in an agunah reality, Reb Usher validates the anguish, and then reframes it: pain can be a cleansing wash (רחיצת שמלה) that scrubs away stains; the process still hurts, but accepted with love it stops being torture and begins to reveal Or Shivat HaYamim (the primordial “seven-day light). “Ketz sam la’choshech”— there is an end to darkness, and it arrives faster when we choose patience, prayer, and love over despair and victim-identity.

Topics include:

• “Ketz la’choshech” is real: why every darkness has an end even when you can’t imagine it.
• The wash-metaphor: רחיצה מכאיבה—how cleansing pain works, and how קבלה באהבה changes the experience (not always the facts).
• Validation before mussar: being seen as the gateway to healing influence.
• Pain vs. suffering: pain can be involuntary; suffering is often a choice of stance.
• Birth pangs & geulah: why labor-level pain hints at a light that follows.
• Where בחירה sits: tending to my nefesh and avodah even when others misuse theirs.
• From “worshipping the wound” to Bnei Emunah—trading victimhood for partnership with Hashem.

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Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn Reb Usher’s short but piercing letter about the “game” Hashem set into creation: neshamas sent into gufim—so that our way to powers lema’alah min ha’teva (above our nature) actually runs through the body, not around it. We explore free will in real time (not acting on every thought), the danger of turning streaks of self-control into self-worship, and the quiet addiction to feeling like a victim. The avodah is to notice the strength we’re given, trace it back to its Source, and live like a baby held by its mother—safe, nourished, and not compelled by every impulse.

Topics include:

• “The game”: souls in bodies—why access to kochos she’me’al hateva is davka through the guf.
• Bechira in the moment: thoughts arise constantly; emunah means I don’t have to act on them.
• Streaks vs. Source: when discipline becomes ego-service—and how to turn victories into thanksgiving.
• The quiet pleasure of sadness: how victimhood removes responsibility—and how to break its spell.
• “Like a baby in its mother’s arms”: cultivating felt safety with Hashem to dissolve compulsion.
• Reading the paragraph again (and again): training the eye to see that every strength is a gift.
• Touching Or HaGanuz—the light of Bereishit—without pretending we’re perfect.

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Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a piece from Reb Usher that reminds us that the foundation of our existence is emunah—and that the milchemes hamiddos (inner war of character) never clocks out. We learn how to ask not “lama?—why is this happening?” but “lemah?—what is this for?” and how that shift turns panic into tefillah, despair into light, and homes full of worry into homes clothed in warmth.

Topics include:

• Why tzaddikim begin each day certain that Hashem believes in them—even when yesterday was rough.
• The core daily avodah: strengthening ourselves “again and again,” starting anew without getting tired.
• The difference between asking for emunah and simply wishing to find it.
• “Concern vs. worry”: turning da’agah into tefillah—and how a parent’s calm face uplifts the whole home (“Lo tira leveita mi’sheleg”).
• Two wars inside us—Beha’aloscha (reactive sirens) vs. Ki Teitzei (pre-emptive courage)—and why a Jew is called to go out to the fight.
• How yissurim awaken bitul/efesiyut (holy nothingness) that reveals Or HaGanuz—the hidden light of emunah.
• Cooling Amalek vs. a house of warmth: becoming Bnei Emunah, not just a “startup nation.”
• Believing in Geulah means believing in Am Yisrael—and in the light waiting at the end of each circle.

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

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Rav Shlomo Katz learns from a letter of Reb Usher (Nisan 5751) about the foundation of our existence: emunah. Together we explore how friendships rooted in emunah help us hold steady in times of torment, how the deepest pain can transform into hidden light (Or HaGanuz), and why believing in Geulah means believing in Am Yisrael.

Topics include:

• Why the tzaddikim began each day with the certainty that Hashem believed in them.
• The difference between asking for emunah and simply wanting to find it.
• How emunah gives freedom that no one can take away.
• What it means to live as “Bnei Emunah” rather than just a “startup nation.”
• Finding strength in the darkness and holding on until it turns to light.

A shiur for Elul and beyond: practical, challenging, and deeply strengthening.

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

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