I Can Never Justify Your Pain

What gives us the right to explain someone else’s suffering? In this emotionally charged and spiritually deep shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz opens a window into one of the most subtle yet critical aspects of Ahavat Yisrael: refusing to define someone by their pain, flaws, or current state.

With teachings from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Tanya, and the Torah itself, Rav Shlomo challenges us to see others—and ourselves—as works in progress, never final products. He reminds us that true love isn't about turning a blind eye, but knowing when to gently sweep things under the table and when to courageously show up with compassion.

This episode explores:

• Why you can look inward and reflect on your own suffering, but can never justify someone else’s.
• The difference between love that heals and judgment that wounds.
• How to be the kind of person whose presence radiates nonjudgmental love.
• When (and if) giving mussar can ever truly help, and the deep introspection required before doing so.

This is a shiur about the deepest kind of empathy, the holy restraint of not speaking, and the courage to simply sit beside a fellow Jew in their pain, without trying to explain it away.