The Power of Women’s Prayers with Rav Shlomo Katz

13. The Auspicious Moment of Lighting Shabbos Candles

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 02:08:03 -0800

There are moments in Judaism that don’t just feel holy. They’re wired into the world as an עֵת רָצוֹן (et ratzon — an auspicious “window” when gates are more open).

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David take one of the most familiar moments in a Jewish home — הַדְלָקַת נֵרוֹת (lighting Shabbos candles), and reframe it as a spiritual turning point. Not just “a mitzvah to do,” but a moment that pushes away the week, clears the inner noise, and pours light into the home and into the hearts of everyone inside it.'

We explore a stunning teaching on וַתַּעַל שַׁוְעָתָם… מִן הָעֲבוֹדָה (“their cry rose up… from the avodah” — meaning: sometimes the tefillah rises דווקא from the mitzvah you’re doing), the hidden power of tefillah said with simplicity, and why the candle-lighting moment is uniquely given to women — because she is the ikar haBayit (עִיקָר הַבַּיִת — the heart/core of the home).

If you’ve ever felt the Friday pressure, the chaos, the rush… this is a reminder: that exact moment can become the biggest opening of your week.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Concept of Eis Ratzon
01:27 Pasuk from Parshas Shemos and Biala Rebbe Insight
03:49 Auspicious Times: Bris Milah and Hafrashas Challah
05:27 Channah’s Three Mitzvos and Focus on Candle Lighting
08:02 Personal Story: Lighting Shabbat Candles in Rav Soloveitchik’s Apartment
10:38 Why Candle Lighting Is a Weekly Opportunity for Everyone
12:42 Text Begins: Hadlakat Nerot as a Special Eis Ratzon
15:03 Zohar: Candle Lighting as a Segulah for Holy Children
17:18 Why This Mitzvah Is Given Specifically to Women
19:45 Boi Kallah: The Queen Enters and Darkness Leaves
23:14 Shabbos Candles Illuminate Hearts, Not Just Homes
26:06 Sidduro Shel Shabbos: Chitzonim and Weekday Worries Leave
30:16 Practical Tension: Candles vs Getting to Shul
33:02 Choosing to Believe the Shift Is Happening
35:38 Starting With Gratitude Before Requests
38:01 The Power Given to a Mother at Candle Lighting
41:12 Rabbeinu Bachya: “The Good Woman Is a Reason for Torah”
44:03 Use the Moment: Daven for Shlichus + Nisyonos of This Dor
47:05 Stories of Simple Women Whose Candle Tefillos Built Gedolim
49:21 Continuing the Lesson on Es Ratzon

12. The Yetzer Hara’s Efforts

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 02:49:32 -0800

What if the Yetzer Hara isn’t “randomly” making tefillah hard, but specifically targeting the most powerful kind of tefillah?

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David learn a striking teaching from the Biala Rebbe: women’s tefillos — especially in shul — don’t just matter… they elevate the entire tzibbur. And that’s exactly why the Yetzer Hara works overtime with excuses, self-talk, and “it doesn’t matter if I’m there” thinking.

We explore the idea of Et Ratzon (especially the power of tefillah in a beit knesset), why tefillat hatzibbur is received differently than tefillat yachid, and the hidden spiritual reality of what happens when women show up and daven from the Ezrat Nashim — even if it’s late, even if it’s messy, even if it’s only a few moments.

A practical, empowering reframing: if the resistance is intense, it’s probably because the impact is real.
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For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

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11. When I Call Out "Abba, Abba"

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 02:12:26 -0800

Some of the deepest pain a Jewish mother feels is quiet: “I don’t daven like I used to.”

Not because she doesn’t care, but because life is full. Kids. Home. Work. Mental load. A headspace that never fully settles.

In this short, powerful shiur from the Biala Rebbe’s Mevaser Tov, Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David reframe what “real davening” actually is: not only pages, not only a minyan, not only a siddur, but speaking to Hashem in the language of the heart.

Even one simple cry — “Abba… Abba…” — can shake the heavens.

We explore:

Why the Yetzer Hara convinces women their “simple prayers” don’t count
How Yehuda’s Vayigash elav teaches “Hashem-conscious” conversation
The Modzitzer teaching: the ideal tefillah for our generation is like a child who can only say “Abba”
The wild Midrash where one old woman’s simple request “outworks” an entire public fast

If you’ve ever felt guilt about not davening “properly,” this episode is a breath of truth, and a return to what tefillah always was.

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

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10. The Pnimiyut of “She’asani Kirtzono”

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 03:08:34 -0800

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David go deep into one of the most misunderstood lines in a woman’s siddur: the bracha “She’asani Kirtzono” – “Who has made me according to His will.”

From Yud Tes Kislev to the Baal Shem Tov’s chiddush of pnimiyut haTorah, Rav Shlomo explores the difference between “doing mitzvos” and actually giving Hashem nachas ruach. Why is it possible to keep all the rules and still miss what Hashem really wants? And why is it that women, so often exempt from certain obligations, are the ones most plugged into Hashem’s deeper will?

Along the way, we speak about:

The gap between “I did my obligation” and “I brought Hashem joy”
When halachically “permitted” doesn’t mean it’s really Hashem’s will
How women naturally go above and beyond the letter of the law
Why so many people were never taught about “nachas” – only about “checklists”
A new, empowering way to understand “She’asani Kirtzono” as an identity, not an apology

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

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9. When You Let Go, You Let In Destiny

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 01:41:27 -0800

In this week’s shiur in The Power of Women’s Prayers, Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David go deep into one of the quiet superpowers of a Jewish woman: vatranut – the ability to let go, to give in, to choose the bigger picture over being “right.”

Drawing from the Biala Rebbe and the life of Rachel Imeinu, Rav Shlomo explores what really happened the night Rachel gave the signs to Leah, what it means to give up not just comfort but your entire imagined future, and how that mysterious choice planted a spiritual DNA in every Jewish woman until today.

Why do women keep saying “yes” when they could so easily say “I’ve done enough”? Why do they bring more children into the world than the bare halachic minimum? Why do they keep cooking, caring, holding families together long after anyone would say they’re “yotzei”?

In this shiur we learn how those daily acts of letting things slide, forgiving, giving way, and going beyond the letter of the law become the very reason our tefillos break through the locked gates of heaven and why Chazal say: “In the merit of righteous women we were redeemed – and will be redeemed again.”

A shiur of chizuk, validation, and gentle challenge for every woman who’s ever wondered if anyone really sees what she gives up.

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

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8. How Do I Know What Hashem Wants?

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:24:11 -0800

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David go straight into one of the biggest questions in avodas Hashem: How do I actually know what Hashem wants from me?

Building on the Biala Rebbe’s Torah about tefilas nashim, we revisit the difference between time-bound mitzvos and those that aren’t, and what it means that women are p’turot from so many mitzvos aseh shehazman grama, yet so often choose to do far more than they’re technically obligated to.

Through the story of Reb Pinchas ben Yair and the river, the Maharsha, and the Baal Shem Tov, Rav Shlomo opens up a powerful secret: there is something uniquely precious about mitzvos done from ratzon and bechira, not just from “I have to.”

Along the way we touch on Women of the Wall, “equality” vs. ratzon Hashem, and what happens when we start asking not “What do I want Judaism to look like?” but “What did Hashem already tell me He wants, through the Torah?”

This shiur is a deep, nuanced hug to women who feel pulled to do more, and a gentle reminder that the way Hashem created you, your instinct to give beyond obligation, is already one of the clearest places His ratzon is shining in the world.

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

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7. A Woman's Candle Stays Lit Throughout the Night

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 03:02:45 -0800

When Shlomo HaMelech says of the Eishes Chayil “לא יכבה בלילה נרה – her candle doesn’t go out at night,” what is that “candle” – and why does it make a woman’s tefillah so powerful?

In this week’s Power of Women’s Prayers, Rav Shlomo Katz continues in the teachings of the Biala Rebbe on tefilas nashim and opens up the inner world of a woman’s everyday mesirus nefesh. From “ותתן טרף לביתה – she gives food to her household” to the sleepless worry of “לא יכבה בלילה נרה,” we learn how a woman’s constant giving is not “just life,” but a living fulfillment of “ואהבת לרעך כמוך – love your fellow as yourself,” and why that becomes the key that opens Sha’arei Shamayim.

Through the story of Abba Chilkiya and his wife, whose rain came in her merit first, and the Arizal’s “הריני מקבל על עצמי מצות עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך” before davening, Rav Shlomo shows how women so often live this pasuk in the most simple, practical ways: feeding, clothing, worrying, holding everyone together in “גלות הגוף והנפש.” That hidden Ahavas Yisrael is what makes a woman’s candle – and her tefillah – burn through the night for all of Am Yisrael.

A shiur of chizuk for women, and a gentle wake-up call for men to recognize whose tefillos are quietly holding the world together.
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For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

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6. The Rebbes Who Would Only Daven If There Was A Women’s Section

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 02:19:28 -0800

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David open a living doorway into תְּפִלַּת נָשִׁים (women’s prayer) and why holy masters refused to daven without a women’s section. With the Biale Rebbe, the Sar Shalom of Belz, and Reb Aharon of Belz, we hear a simple, searing standard: if the gates of prayer feel closed, we must lean on the gates of tears, which never close. And whose tears flow most readily? “נָשִׁים דִּמְעָתָן מְצוּיָה” (women’s tears are near at hand).

We revisit רִבְקָה אִמֵּנוּ (Rivka Imeinu), רָחֵל אִמֵּנוּ (Rachel Imeinu) and חַנָּה (Chana)—the mothers whose inner voice and holy tears became the blueprint of the foundations of prayer. And we learn why certain tzaddikim delayed inaugurations, paused before the amud, or spoke first to the women on Yom Kippur night: because women's prayer lifts the room and with it, all of Am Yisrael.

What you’ll hear:

Sha’arei tefillah / sha’arei dim’ah (שְׁעָרֵי תְּפִלָּה / שַׁעֲרֵי דִמְעָה): when words stall, tears open
Stories of Belz & Biale: no ezrat nashim (עזרת נשים)? no davening
Koach ha-havchana (כֹּחַ הַהַבְחָנָה — holy discernment) → targeted tefillah (תפילה)
Chana as the source-text for sidrei tefillah (סדרי תפילה)
How women’s kol (קול — voice) and dim’ah (דמעה — tears) raise the tefillot of the whole tzibbur
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5. The Gates that Women Open

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 01:55:29 -0800

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David lean into תפילת נשים (women’s prayer) and the secret of the gates that open through a woman’s heart. Building on כֹּחַ הַהַבְחָנָה (discerning what truly matters) sourced in בִּינָה יְתֵירָה (heightened inner understanding) embedded in the feminine dimension, we trace how the Matriarchs teach us to pray in a way that Heaven receives.

With רִבְקָה אִמֵּנוּ (Rivka Imeinu) we revisit “לוֹ וְלֹא לָהּ” (answered to him, not to her) and the Chazal that imply: had she been צַדֶּקֶת בַּת צַדִּיק (righteous-from-righteous), her voice would have been first. With רָחֵל אִמֵּנוּ (Rachel Imeinu) we enter מְבַכָּה, the ongoing tears that Hashem cannot turn away from—“וְשָׁבוּ בָנִים לִגְבוּלָם.” With חַנָּה (Chana) we learn that the foundations of prayer come from a woman who became “וַאֲנִי תְּפִלָּה.” And in the merit of righteous women, the Exodus becomes the root of every redemption.

This shiur invites our daughters, sisters, and mothers to trust their inner voice and aim tefillah at the עִקָּר (the essential), so that their tears, words, and presence open gates for all of Am Yisrael.
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For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com

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4. A Woman’s Ability to Detect Importance

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 02:47:57 -0700

Rav Shlomo Katz and the women of Shirat David open a tender gate into תפילת נשים: the gift of בינה יתירה—a woman’s inner knowing to separate עיקר (primary) from טפל (secondary). Returning to “לא תירא לביתה משלג כי כל ביתה לבוש שנים,” we hear how “snow” (the Amalek-cold that numbs holy feeling) is disarmed by a woman’s warm feeling for Hashem. With Sarah Imeinu and Rivka Imeinu as living guides, we learn how a mother’s כח הבחנה—her ability to detect what truly matters—clothes an entire home in confidence, prayer, and purpose.

This shiur is an invitation to trust that voice: to aim tefillah at what’s essential, to stop pouring koach into what doesn’t serve, and to let a woman’s daas build a bayit ne’eman from the inside out.

What you’ll hear

“Lo tira…mi’sheleg” as Amalek’s cooling vs. a woman’s warming fire
Rav Tzadok & Chazal on בינה יתירה: להבין דבר מתוך דבר in tefillah
Sarah Imeinu’s clarity (גרש את בן האמה) and why Hashem says “שמע בקולה”
Rivka Imeinu seeing through appearances: loving Yaakov, reading Esav
Ikar vs. tafel: blessing your home by investing koach where it counts
Why women’s tefillah is uniquely targeted—and how it protects “kol beitah”

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3. The Torah of "Lo Tira Leveita Mishaleg"

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 06:03:57 -0700

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David open Eshet Chayil: “לא תירא לביתה משלג כי כל ביתה לבוש שנים.” With the Biala Rebbe and Rav Tzadok HaKohen, we uncover a luminous reading: “snow” is the klipah of Amalek that cools holy fire—not by stopping mitzvot, but by whispering that our avodah has no value.

The Eishes Chayil does not fear that snow because her heart is warm with regesh for Hashem; she becomes the ma’amidah who lifts her entire home out of self-belittling and into holy confidence (erech atzmi). When a woman knows her worth before Heaven, she “clothes” her family in warmth—shanim as scarlet, royalty, and living passion—and robs Amalek of his sword.

What you’ll hear:

Rav Tzadok’s two strategies of the yetzer: rebellion vs. “do it, but it’s nothing”
Why “snow” = Amalek’s cooling and how Lo Tira defeats it
Erech atzmi (holy self-worth) as the foundation of avodat Hashem—without pride
How a woman’s inner fire warms “kol beitah”—husband, children, and community
Reading Eshet Chayil as living guidance for Elul and the Yamim Nora’im

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2. Why Isn’t the Mitzvah of Having Children on the Woman?

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 09:28:02 -0700

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn from the Biala Rebbe’s Zechut Nashim Tzidkaniyot: what is the ma’alah of a Jewish mother, and why is the mitzvah of pru u’rvu placed on men rather than women?

Through the words of Devorah HaNeviah—“ad shekamti Devorah, shekamti em b’Yisrael”—we discover that a mother’s greatness is not defined by obligation but by being the ma’amidah, the one who holds up the home and sustains the future of Am Yisrael. Chazal teach that davar ha’ma’amid is considered like the mitzvah itself: just as Zevulun upholds Issachar’s Torah, so too every mother upholds the Torah of her children.

The Biala Rebbe reveals that such constant mesirut nefesh—pregnancy, birth, raising children, pouring heart and soul day and night—can never come from tzivui alone. It must flow from ratzon, the innermost will, the same root that fuels women’s tefillah and faith that redeemed us from Mitzrayim and continues to carry our people above nature.

What you’ll hear:

Why pru u’rvu rests on men halachically, but lives through women spiritually
How Devorah HaNeviah defined leadership as “being a mother in Israel”
The halachic principle of davar ha’ma’amid applied to the Jewish home
Why children are not just “a mitzvah,” but new paths of avodat Hashem
How women’s ratzon and tefillah sustain Torah itself across generations

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1. The Innate Feminine Emotional Purity

Rav Shlomo Katz — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 23:59:12 -0700

Rav Shlomo Katz opens the series on the Power of Women's Prayer by naming a core truth: it’s a great mistake not to know our flaws—but an even greater mistake not to know our ma’alot. Women’s tefillah carries a singular gift—רגש טהור, a refined, honest heart that finds exact words before Hashem.

From the Biala Rebbe’s teachings, we contrast outer “status” with inner worth, and we ask: what really counts in Shamayim? Why does a child’s pure cry uphold the world, and how much more so the mother who brings that cry into being?

We set the stage for the coming weeks: obligation vs. essence, mitzvot aseh she’hazman gerama, and learning the siddur through pnimiyut.

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