The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parshios.Unfortunately, due to transmission issues, I was unable to hear most of the parsha portion of this evening's vort. As such, I have reproduced a prior year's vort in this space. As always any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
R' Frand quoted the Maharal who noted that while the Tochacha in Parshas Bechukosai has words of nechama (comfort) after the Tochacha, the Tochacha in Parshas Ki Savo does not have words of nechama at the end.
R' Frand cited R' Yosher Ber Soloveitchik who explains that the Tochacha in Bechukosai is aligned with the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash and galus bavel. Since the first galus was very brief, the divrei nechama come soon after the Tochacha. However, the Tochacha in Ki Savo is aligned with the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash and galus Edom. Although this is a long drawn out galus which we are still experiencing, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and nechama at the end of the galus. R' Yosher Ber explains that the divrei nechama comes in Parshas Netzavim at Devarim 30:1-2, where the Torah writes "V'haya ki yavou alecha ..." that it will be when these things come on you, the blessings and the curse, that the Jews will return to Hashem.
The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva writes that the Nevi'im promised us that the Jews will do teshuva at the end of galus and they will be immediately redeemed. R' Yosher Ber explains that this is the nechama, knowing that there will be teshuva and the galus will end.
R' Frand mentioned that he was always bothered by this Rambam. There are so many people who are not keeping the Torah and do not even know that they are sinning because they lack the basic knowledge of the Torah laws. How will these people do teshuva?
R' Frand said that he heard a vort from the Shem Mishmuel which answered the question. The Shem Mishmuel quoted Devarim 30:3 which states that Hashem will bring back "shevuscha" - translated as your people in captivity. However, the Targum Yonasan Ben Uziel translates shevuscha as your teshuvos - Hashem will gather in all the teshuvos from all the generations and use them to redeem the Jews.
The Shem Mishmuel referenced the line from the Rosh Hashanah davening - Ma'avir Rishon Rishon - the Gemara in Rosh Hashana 17 states that this means that if a person is equally weighted with sins and mitzvos, Hashem will take away one aveirah so that the scale tips to life. However, the sin is not erased completely. If later a person piles on the sins, Hashem will add this sin back to the pile.
The Shem Mishmuel states that if Hashem will store away an aveirah to be added in at the appropriate time, than He certainly is saving the less than perfect thoughts or acts of teshuva that were done for centuries so that they can be added togther at the appropriate time and bring the geulah. The Shem Mishmuel states that this explains how a person can do teshuva at the end of his life and it will be accepted. The teshuva certainly cannot be an acceptance to change for the future since the person will die in short order. The Shem Mishmuel explains that this person had many thoughts or acts of teshuva over his lifetime which did not come to fruition. However, at the end of his life when he has a genuine desire to teshuva, Hashem brings back all these thoughts and deeds and together they cause the person to become a true ba'al teshuva.
The Shem Mishmuel further states that this collection of imperfect teshuvas applies not only to individuals, but also to groups. Hashem has collected our improper teshuvos over thousands of years and geula can happen in our days by adding just a little bit to the scale to put us over the top. This is the answer to the question that bothers people - if we did not merit geulah when we had greater leaders, how can we possibly merit the Moshiach today? The answer is that all those teshuvas have been building up and if we on our lower level can somehow add the final piece through our teshuva, we can bring the geulah and be the nechama.
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