Live niggunim, a Carduner melody, and a short, fiery teaching: Rav Shlomo Katz opens Eretz Ḥefeẓ and Orot to frame the avodah of Yom Ha’atzmaut. Drawing on Rav Kook’s language, he argues it’s not merely harder, but essentially impossible, to be fully faithful to our holiest visions in ḥutz la’aretz; the avira d’Eretz Yisrael empowers those sparks to become deeds.

What’s the avodah of Yom Ha’atzmaut? Beyond the flags and barbecues, Rav Shlomo Katz opens Tehillim 107—“Hodu laHashem ki tov, ki le’olam chasdo”—to uncover the inner work of the day: cultivating awareness of the miracles we’re living through right now.

Drawing parallels between Yetziat Mitzrayim and the modern return to Eretz Yisrael, Rav Shlomo explains that just as we retell the Exodus every year, we must also learn, teach, and feel the miracle of 1948 and everything that’s unfolded since. This isn’t only about gratitude. It’s about recognition.

With heartfelt stories, laughter, and prayer, he invites us to step into Tehillim’s words—“ומארצות קבצם ממזרח וממערב מצפון ומים”—and realize: David HaMelech was writing about us.

n this riveting shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz opens one of Rav Kook’s earliest and most passionate writings — his 1907 Kol Koreh (“Call to Come Home” from Jaffa) — and asks: Would anything need to be changed if we sent this same invitation today?

Rav Shlomo reads through Rav Kook’s thunderous proclamation, line by line, together with his students: “Come to Eretz Yisrael, pleasant brothers and sisters… save your souls and the souls of your generations.” What begins as a century-old letter unfolds into a mirror for our own times — where love for Jews outside Israel, fear of sounding “pushy,” and the deep longing for home all meet.

Through laughter, honesty, and tears, Rav Shlomo explores how Rav Kook’s words cut through excuses, politics, and guilt, offering not condemnation but chesed: a love that believes in Klal Yisrael’s destiny to return home and remove the zuhama — the spiritual fog — left by the meraglim.

You’ll hear about:

• Rav Kook’s 1907 call: “Come to Eretz Yisrael, run for your souls.”
• Why speaking about Aliyah requires deep love, not judgment.
• The connection between the meraglim and our modern fear of belonging.
• What it means to “remove the contamination” of doubt and reclaim holy longing.
• How to read Rav Kook’s words today without changing a single one.