Tonight R' Frand did not give his Teshuva Derasha live from Baltimore and he was hospitalized earlier in the week. Although I did hear that he has been discharged from the hospital, I would ask my readers to have him in mind during their m'sheberach prayers (Yissocher Dov Ben Chaya Bracha). As TCN had been having some issues with transmission over the last few weeks, they provided a previously recorded version of the Derasha which R' Frand gave for Just One Life on Sunday and I have attempted to summarize the first portion of it in this post. As in years past, this is not a verbatim transcript of an hour plus long shiur, but I have attempted to capture many of the thoughts to the best of my abilities. Any inconsistencies are the results of my transcription and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
R' Frand began the derasha by quoting a statement from the Ran in the 1300's about a plague that his generation was encountering and R' Frand remarked that it could be equally applicable to the COVID pandemic which the world has been dealing with for the last nineteen months. But beyond the pandemic, the last year has featured other wake up calls, such as 45 people being crushed to death in Meron while visiting on the yahrtzeit of R' Shimon Bar Yochai. And that that this took place on Lag B'Omer - the day that the students of R' Akiva stopped dying, makes this even more difficult to comprehend.
R' Frand remarked that in 2006, R Elyashiv ZT'L used to ask for the names of people who had been killed during the Lebanon war so that he could daven for them. When he was told that a woman died in Meron he could not believe it - how was it that the zechus of Rashbi did not protect her?
But while people could attempt to write this off as safety issue due to overcrowding (wince), two weeks later bleachers collapsed at the Stolin Beis Medrash and two more people were killed.
And again, people could try to rationalize that the bleachers were only temporary and should not have been used the way they were, but then how do you ignore the tragedy of the building collapse in Surfside? This was an apartment building in the United States, not a third world makeshift structure. People went to sleep thinking they were secure in their beds and were crushed by tons of concrete. R' Frand remarked that he saw a Minchas Chinuch being carried out of the rubble - this is a serious sefer for someone who knows how to learn and underscores that the tragedy took place among frum people.
R' Frand then returned to discuss the COVID pandemic that is hitting worldwide and which we hope will be ending soon with the help of Hashem. R' Frand said that he is not a prophet, but he says that this is a message to us that the world (called Olam) is tied to the word hidden (Ne'elam). Hashem is hidden in nature and we don't see or think about Him when times are good.
But COVID and Meron and Stolin and Surfside show us that Hashem is involved in the world and that if he does not want something to proceed it will fail.
R' Frand told a Chelm story where the elders were asked- what is more important the moon or the sun? They answered - the moon, because at night it is not light and the moon allows us to see. During the day it is light out and we don't need to depend on the sun.
Much like the people of Chelm, we don't recognize Hashem when things are running well.
R' Frand told a similar "joke" about a Rabi who went to visit someone dying in the hospital, but could not find a parking space. He said - Hashem if you help me find a spot, I will donate $500 to charity and as soon as he said it a spot opened. He then said - forget it - I found one...without realizing that Hashem was behind it.
I will b'n attempt to summarize more of the derasha in upcoming posts, and wish everyone an easy and meaningful fast.
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