The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
Rabbi Frand started the parsha vort by quoting Vayikra 19:3, which states "Ish Imo V'Aviv Tiraoo V'es Shabsosai Tishmoru" which translates as "every man-your mother and father shall you revere and my shabboses you should observe." The gemara in Kiddushin learns from this pasuk that one should listen to one's parents unless they tell him to violate a Torah law like the Shabbos.
R' Frand quoted R' Yaakov Kaminetsky who developed the following thought. According to Darwin, the initial generation from man was spawned from apes. The successive generations are one step further removed from monkeys. Jews on the other hand believe that Hashem created the world and then created Adam. Adam as the first generation created by Hashem was close to perfect. Similarly, the Jews at Sinai were close to perfection when they received the Torah. Each generation further away from Adam and Sinai is further away from divine perfection.
When a Jew keeps shabbos, he attests that Hashem is perfection as embodied by the creation of the world. By linking shabbos to parents, the Torah reminds us that our parents are closer to perfection than we are. By honoring our parents, we indicate that we agree that they are closer to perfection and Hashem's image.
R' Frand closed this vort by quoting a statement attributed to R' Wasserman. He stated that if Darwin had ever seen the Chafetz Chaim, Darwin would have never theorized that man descended from apes. R' Wasserman explained that if Darwin had ever met the Chafetz Chaim. Darwin would know that there is no way that the Chafetz Chaim could have descended from apes. However, since Darwin only saw people like him, he could be mistaken into thinking that man descended from apes.
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