The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts 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.
R' Frand began the vort by quoting the Gemara in Chaggigah 5a which states that when R' Yochanan got to the pasuk in Devarim 31:21 וְהָיָ֠ה כִּֽי־תִמְצֶ֨אןָ אֹת֜וֹ רָע֣וֹת רַבּוֹת֘ וְצָרוֹת֒ he would cry out and say - a slave whose master brings this upon him, can he be saved? He is lost!
R' Meir Shapiro in his sefer Imrei Da'as asked - why is that R' Yochanan cried here, but not when he read the Tochacha?
To answer the question he cited a Gemara in Berachos wherein R' Yochanan says that Yisurin create an atonement for a person. He learns this from the rule of Shen V'Ever - if a master knocks out a tooth or breaks a limb, the servant goes free, how much more so when a person is afflicted on their entire body! But Reish Lakish disagrees, stating that we learn the beneficial effect of Yisurin from salt - just like it has a positive effect on meat, so does Yisurin on the body.
R' Meir Shapiro then noted that when a master knocks out a tooth or breaks a limb, the servant knows where it is coming from. But what bothered R' Yochanan is that וְהָיָ֠ה כִּֽי־תִמְצֶ֨אןָ - the Yisurin appear to the person as something which just "happened." If a person realizes that the Yisurin come from Hashem, then they can create an atonement. But if the event is viewed as happenstance, there is no way that it can create an atonement for him and he is suffering for nothing.
R' Frand observed that when good things happen, people will say that they saw the Yad Hashem. But people don't have that reaction when negative things occur.
R' Frand also told a story from R' Tzvi Hersh Meislish which was written in the introduction to the Sefer Shu't Mikadshei Hashem. He writes that he was in the concentration camp on Rosh Hashanah. There were 1400 bochurim who were in a cell block who knew that they were headed to the gas chamber. They asked R' Meislish to blow Shofar for them as they knew that he had a Shofar. And R' Meislish was on the fence about whether he should blow the Shofar as they might catch him and throw him in the gas chambers as well CV'S. When his son heard about the request he begged his father not to blow Shofar, but R' Meislish decided he would blow anyway, even though Halacha would say that a person does not need to put his life in danger for Shofar.
R' Meislish went into the block and he began the introductory Tefillah before blowing Shofar but the Bochurim begged him for a Shmooze. He quoted the pasuk from Tehillim 81:4 תִּקְע֣וּ בַחֹ֣דֶשׁ שׁוֹפָ֑ר בַּ֜כֶּ֗סֶה לְי֣וֹם חַגֵּֽנוּ. He explained it as by saying that we don't know why Hashem is doing this to us, it is hidden why this is happening, but we need to continue.
The Bochurim did not want to hear 9 Kolos - they wanted 100 Kolos and he did blow Shofar in full. After he finished, a Bochut got up and said - we can hope for the best, but we need to prepare for the worst - lets not forget to say Shema Yisrael and then they all said it loud and with fervor. And then each Bochur came to him to wish the best for the new year and that he should survive.
R' Frand closed the vort saying that it was a very difficult year and that he still cannot get his head around why this needed to happen on Shmini Atzeres/Simchas Torah. But we need to know that it is all from Hashem and we need to continue.
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