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.
For the first parsha vort of the season, R' Frand began by discussing the rules which apply to Jewish kings, as set forth in Devarim 17:14-20. The Torah includes many specific rules and their reasons, including that the King should not have too many horses so that the Jews will not go back to Egypt and that the King should not have too many wives as they may lead him astray.
R' Frand next quoted the Gemara in Sanhedrin which states that King Shlomo said that he could exceed the cap (18) on wives and it would not impact on him, however he was led astray anyway.
R' Frand asked - if Shlomo was one of the wisest men who ever lived, how could he have fallen?
Before answering the question, R' Frand made reference to the Gemara in Shabbos (12) which states that a person should not read by the light of an oil lamp on Shabbos because he might come to tip it in order to make the light brighter.
R' Frand then remarked as a parenthetical that a person can read from his Machzor on Yom Kippur by the light of the candle, because on Yom Kippur there will not be a temptation.
Returning to the Gemara, R' Frand quoted R' Yishmael Ben Elisha who remarked that he could read by the light without being tempted to tip the lamp...until one day that he was tempted. To this he stated - how wise are the Rabbis.
R' Frand asked on this Gemara - why did R' Yishmael praise the Rabbis in this regard?
R' Frand answered these questions by quoting R' Elya Baruch Frankel who in turn cited R' Aharon Kotler ztl who stated that there are laws of nature and metaphysical laws. The same way that there is a law of gravity which dictates that a dropped object will fall, so too is there a metaphysical or spiritual law which provides that a King who has too many wives will be tempted, even if he is as wise and good as Shlomo.
R' Frand then told a story about R' Chaim Soloveitchik who was the Rosh Yeshiva when the Russians came and tried to influence the school to teach Russian culture. Each time a minister would come to the school, they would pay him off to leave them to their studies. But once, a minister came who could not be influenced. R' Chaim came to him at his office in July and was wearing a fur coat and hat. The minister asked - why are you wearing this in July? He answered that his mother had appeared to him in a dream and told him it was going to be below freezing the next day. The minister responded - that is never going to happen. R' Chaim said "I bet you 100 rubles it will." The minister took the bet and collected the money the next day as the temperature did not drop. R' Chaim returned to the school and said that the minister will not be a problem in the future --since he took this money he will be able to be influenced because "HaShochad Y'Aver".
This was how Shlomo fell and why R' Yishmael Ben Elisa praised the Rabbis as he realized that once they made their gezeira, the metaphysical teva had changed and people could come to tip the lamp.
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