Entering Sukkot with Rav Shlomo Katz
Sep 22, 2026 · 50 min · 12 segments
Rav Shlomo Katz and Rabbi Stewart Weiss explore the concept of *Mesirut Nefesh* (self-sacrifice) during the annual memorial for Ari Weiss Hy"d, who fell in battle after Sukkot. Drawing on letters…
Shlomo KatzHost
Stewart WeissGuest
The mida of Mesirut Nefesh becomes It's like an et ratzon for Amidah of Messirot Nefesh.
And Ari was taken 18 years ago, just very shy of his 22nd birthday, in a state of Atmos Tehara, Be'ikdusha Ba'aganah Al-Am Yisrael.
So what happens every year? Every year on this date of Chavda LeTishrei, every year, the opportunity for us to ask ourselves what are we living for becomes more attainable.
What am I living for? What am I trying so hard to do in this world? Most people have a misconception of the terminology of the term Mesirut Nefesh.
We're not speaking about the Mesirot Nefesh that during their Bon Hasholem decided certain things in a very traumatic and tragic way.
We're speaking about that in the Sukhoth of Ari, that you and I are able to sit here in Eretz Yisrael, celebrate our holidays, celebrate Torah, celebrate Yiddishkeit, call all our brothers and sisters to come home, in that tz'chut of that day, the question is, how am I upping my mesirut nefesh on today, on the Yodzeit? During Sukkot, when we have the inyanim of Simchat Beit HaShoeva, we all know, and we spoke about this a lot during Sukkot, the Simchat Beit HaShoeva was, there was a she'iva of ruach nevua, people would draw out the prophecy from the Simcha that happened.
There was prophecy drawn out from the water, and there was a Simcha of the Nevim, and of course Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, the Nasi of the Sanhedrin, and the Gemara explains this, the Simcha, that was taking place, it wasn't just the simcha of but because of simcha, people got a sense of what they're capable of doing in this world.
So they drew from that, the simcha of Sukkot, was that I realize now, after I go through the purification of Yom Kippur, what I'm capable of doing as a clean yid, as a So here we are the day after Sukkot, the day after Shmina Yatzeret and Simchat Torah.
And it's a day of, and since, for the last 18 years, we've asked ourselves, well, what today, what am I drawing into my life today that will up my Mesilut Nefesh game? And in the S'chut of the Neshamah of Ari, who went up like a Malach Hashem Tzavakos, that is actually more attainable today For those of us that are mitkashering, that are choosing to connect to what happened.
Now, mesirot nefesh, like I said before, does not necessarily mean trying to find a way that I can give my life actively.
If HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides what He decides, that's the Rebona Shleman's cheshban.
The mida of Mesirut Nefesh becomes It's like an et ratzon for Amidah of Messirot Nefesh.
And Ari was taken 18 years ago, just very shy of his 22nd birthday, in a state of Atmos Tehara, Be'ikdusha Ba'aganah Al-Am Yisrael.
So what happens every year? Every year on this date of Chavda LeTishrei, every year, the opportunity for us to ask ourselves what are we living for becomes more attainable.
What am I living for? What am I trying so hard to do in this world? Most people have a misconception of the terminology of the term Mesirut Nefesh.
We're not speaking about the Mesirot Nefesh that during their Bon Hasholem decided certain things in a very traumatic and tragic way.
We're speaking about that in the Sukhoth of Ari, that you and I are able to sit here in Eretz Yisrael, celebrate our holidays, celebrate Torah, celebrate Yiddishkeit, call all our brothers and sisters to come home, in that tz'chut of that day, the question is, how am I upping my mesirut nefesh on today, on the Yodzeit? During Sukkot, when we have the inyanim of Simchat Beit HaShoeva, we all know, and we spoke about this a lot during Sukkot, the Simchat Beit HaShoeva was, there was a she'iva of ruach nevua, people would draw out the prophecy from the Simcha that happened.
There was prophecy drawn out from the water, and there was a Simcha of the Nevim, and of course Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, the Nasi of the Sanhedrin, and the Gemara explains this, the Simcha, that was taking place, it wasn't just the simcha of but because of simcha, people got a sense of what they're capable of doing in this world.
So they drew from that, the simcha of Sukkot, was that I realize now, after I go through the purification of Yom Kippur, what I'm capable of doing as a clean yid, as a So here we are the day after Sukkot, the day after Shmina Yatzeret and Simchat Torah.
And it's a day of, and since, for the last 18 years, we've asked ourselves, well, what today, what am I drawing into my life today that will up my Mesilut Nefesh game? And in the S'chut of the Neshamah of Ari, who went up like a Malach Hashem Tzavakos, that is actually more attainable today For those of us that are mitkashering, that are choosing to connect to what happened.
Now, mesirot nefesh, like I said before, does not necessarily mean trying to find a way that I can give my life actively.
If HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides what He decides, that's the Rebona Shleman's cheshban.
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