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.
In Bamidbar 20:2 the Torah states "וְלֹא־הָ֥יָה מַ֖יִם לָֽעֵדָ֑ה וַיִּקָּ֣הֲל֔וּ עַל־משֶׁ֖ה וְעַל־אַהֲרֹֽן" - there was no water for the group and they gathered against Moshe and Aharon. This pasuk comes immediately after the Torah tells of the death of Miriam in 20:1.
The Klei Yakar explains that this lack of water was a punishment for the Jewish people, as they should not have had a lapse in their water supply, since they could have received water in the zchus of Moshe or Aharon. He explains that the reason for the lack of water was because the Jews did not mourn the death of Miriam, as they did later in the Torah with the death of Aharon and Moshe.
R' Frand then asked - why didn't the Jews mourn Miriam? He answered based on R' Buskpan who cited to the Kloizenberger Rebbi who said that the Jews did not mourn Miriam because they remembered how she had spoken ill of Moshe and had been punished for doing so.
However, a funny thing happened after this story -the Jews spoke out against Moshe at Mei Merivah and Moshe responded by calling them rebels in 20:10. Why did Moshe react this way? He was telling them - you did not mourn the death of Miriam because you felt that she showed me disrespect by criticizing me to Aharon. You are hypocrites as you are now all criticizing me publicly for the lack of water!
R' Frand also said a vort on the pasuk in Bamidbar 20:16 where Moshe states "וַנִּצְעַ֤ק אֶל־יְהֹוָה֙ וַיִּשְׁמַ֣ע קֹלֵ֔נוּ וַיִּשְׁלַ֣ח מַלְאָ֔ךְ וַיֹּֽצִאֵ֖נוּ מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם וְהִנֵּה֙ אֲנַ֣חְנוּ בְקָדֵ֔שׁ עִ֖יר קְצֵ֥ה גְבוּלֶֽךָ" - that Moshe recounts that the Jews cried out when they were in Egypt.
Rashi explains that with the beracha that Ya'akov received from Yitzchak through the words in Bereishis 27:22 "וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הַקֹּל֙ ק֣וֹל יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב וְהַיָּדַ֖יִם יְדֵ֥י עֵשָֽׂו" that Ya'akov's voice was his voice, Hashem blessed the Jews.
The obvious problem with the statement is that this part of the story of Ya'akov and Yitzchak is not where he received the berachos. Instead it is the dialogue which leads up to the berachos.
R' Frand explained that this was a beracha, but one that needs to be understood in the context of berachos in general. When Ya'akov blessed his sons in Vayechi there were many statements that he made which on the surface do not appear to be blessings. Instead they sound more like personal observations of his sons' positive and negative qualities.
R' Frand that a great beracha is being able to be told what your strengths and weaknesses are and that this is why the blessings to the sons of Ya'akov in Vayechi were truly berachos. Similarly, when Ya'akov is told about the quality of his power of speech, it is also a blessing.
R' Frand closed the vort by quoting R' Elya Baruch Finkel who explained that this the reason for the statement in Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer which praises one who sings the qualities of the Chosson and Kallah to each other. Because in so doing he highlights the bride/groom's traits and tells each one what is expected of him.
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