40. The Snake's Poisonous Reach Today

In this piercing teaching on Chapter 17 of Bnei Machshava Tova, Rav Shlomo Katz guides us through the Piaseczner Rebbe’s radical critique of our modern relationship to knowledge. Why is it that the more we “know,” the less we feel? Could it be that the ancient venom of the nachash still pulses through our thinking? How we divide, label, and rationalize our avodah until we no longer trust our heart’s whispers?This shiur calls us back to a life of temimus. Not simplicity of mind, but wholeheartedness of being. Through laughter, pain, and real-life moments, Rav Shlomo unpacks the danger of knowledge without bitachon, of intellect divorced from inner sincerity. What does it mean to live with daas and still remain pure? The answer lies in shedding the world’s illusions, holding tightly to truth, and learning to trust again—ourselves, our neshamos, and the God who planted them.