The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand in his shiur this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistencies are the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
As a brief introduction, tonight's shiur did not have a vort on the parsha, but instead discussed Rosh Hashana. As the vort was quite powerful, I have chosen to summarize it here, rather than substitute a R' Frand parsha thought on Netzavim from a prior year.
R' Frand began his non-halacha part of the shiur tonight by quoting from Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau's book entitled "Al tishlach yadcha el ha na'ar" (don't touch that boy) which discusses his experiences as a five year old survivor of Bergen Belsen. R' Lau wrote that years after the holocaust, he returned to the city in Poland where his father had been the Rabbi (both of his parents were killed in the holocaust). It was Shabbas Chazon, the shabbos that precedes Tisha B'av and he was invited to give the drasha (sermon) in his father's shul. R' Lau spoke about a Medrash from Eicha in which Yirmiyahu (after the destruction of the First Beis Hamikdash) went to Ma'aras Hamachpela (the Tomb of the Patriarchs) to wake the forefathers and ask them to beg Hashem to allow the Jews to rebuild the temple.
As told by R' Lau, Yirmiyahu first woke Avraham, and after washing Avraham's hands, Avraham began to ask Hashem why the Temple was destroyed. Hashem answered Avraham and said that he would explain by using the alef beis. He first brough the Alef, but Avraham said to the Alef - how can you testify against the Jews when you stand for Anochi Hashem Elokecha and the Jews accepted Hashem as their G-d. He then brought the Beis and Avraham scolded the Beis as well, saying that the Beis stands for Bereishis Barah, that Hashem created the world based on the Torah, the same Torah that all the nations of the world rejected, but the Jews accepted without question. Avraham was eventually able to defeat the proposed testimony of all the letters.
R' Lau then mentoned a vort from R' Yitzchak Frankel (R' Lau's father in law) on the pasuk in next week's parsha (Devarim 31:21) "V'haya ki simtzena..." This verse is normally translated as "It shall be that when many evils and distresses come upon it, then this song will speak up before it as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of its offspring, for I know its inclination, what it does today, before I bring them to the Land that I have sworn." R' Lau said that his father in law learned the pasuk to mean that like the letters of the alef beis, the Torah itself will come and testify before the world as to how the Jews sacrificed in order to follow the Torah's laws. Examples from the holocaust include Jews sneaking off the to the forest to hear the blowing of the shofar, despite certain death if caught (more on this later); foregoing their small ration of bread on Pesach so as to not eat chametz, melting the margarine they had been given so that the resultant oil could be used on their buttons to make chanukah candles. In this, the Torah will testify about the courageous acts taken by Jews to show that they have not abandoned the Torah, against all odds.
R' Frand then finished with another holocaust story from R' Tzvi Hersh Meisels (the Veitzener Rav who later settled in Chicago). R' Meisels writes in his sefer (Shaylos U'Tshuvos Mikadshei Hashem) that when he was in Auschwitz, he had a shofar with him in the camp. This fact became known to a number of students who had already been segregated for the crematorium and were scheduled to be killed on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. The boys asked R' Meisels to come blow shofar for them, despite the fact that they only had a few hours left to live. R' Meisels debated whether to go as he knew that if he was caught, he could be executed as well. His son begged him not to go, telling R' Meisels that he did not want to become an orphan. Still, R' Meisels decided that he would go, thinking to himself, how many days do I have left anyway?
When R' Meisels arrived at the barracks, the boys asked him to give a sermon before he blew the shofar. So he said a vort on the verse from Psalms 81, "Tiku Bachodesh Shofar..." which is normally translated as "Blow the shofar at the moon's renewal, at the time appointed for our festive day." In so doing he translated Bakeseh not as "at the time of" but rather using the root kisui - when it is hidden - thus rendering the verse - blow the shofar when things are hidden, when you don't understand why things are happening have faith that Hashem does everything for a positive purpose. And then he blew the shofar.
When R' Meisels finished blowing the shofar, one of the boys stood up and said - yes we should not lose hope, we must do as we must to serve Hashem for His sake. Then, together the boys screamed out the shma yisrael with fervor. And then the boys said, we are not saying thanks to you, R' Meisels for your actions, we want to give you a bracha, a blessing for long life instead.
May the sacrifices of these boys and many others who risked (and sometimes gave) their lives to worship Hashem stand for us in the Yamim Noraim and may the Torah testify as to our actions to keep it, so that we all merit a good year of life, health, good things and the coming of Moshiach.
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