3. Returning Home is a Foundation of Teshuva

In this Yom HaZikaron teaching, Rav Shlomo Katz draws from Eim Habanim Smeicha to reveal a profound truth — that teshuvah, the return to God, is incomplete without aliyah, the return home. Through the words of Rav Yissachar Shlomo Teichtel, Rav Shlomo uncovers how the spiritual and physical journeys of return are inseparable: the soul’s longing for its Source mirrors the nation’s longing for its Land. Delivered on Yom HaZikaron, this shiur transforms remembrance into mission, reminding us that the sacrifices made for Eretz Yisrael are not only acts of courage, but of collective teshuvah. Rav Shlomo invites us to see “coming home” not merely as geography, but as destiny — a living teshuvah that unites heaven and earth, spirit and soil, God and His people.