The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha last year (there was a replacement Rav this week and I did not get a chance to hear him). 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 noting that the first mitzva in the parsha is the bringing of the bikkurim (first fruits) to the Beis Hamikdash and the recitation of the mikra bikkurim. This recitation is more than just a thanking of Hashem for the bountiful harvest, it actually contains a historical recitation of events which track back to the Jews being saved from Egypt.
R' Frand further observed that many of the pesukim in this section of the parsha are incorporated in the maggid section of the Hagaddah on Pesach. But why did the Ba'al Hagaddah choose to use these pesukim from Parshas Ki Savo when he had the entire parshios of Shemos, Va'era, Bo and Beshalach to work with? R' Frand answered by quoting R' Finkel who explains that those parshios are historical in nature. Meanwhile, the mikra bikkurim recitation of the events from Egypt is a HaKaras HaTov, a recognition of the good that Hashem has done for us, and mentioning it at the seder is appropriate. This is not to say that there is no discussion or citation from Shemos-Beshalach as there are many references which are punctuated by "K'mo Shenemar" --as it is written.
R' Frand noted that in Devarim 26:3 the words V'Amarta Eilav (literally - say to him) are explained by Rashi as being purposed to not be a Kafui Tov - rejector of the good that Hashem has done for him. R' Frand then asked - but why not say that it is done to recognize the good that Hashem does? He answered that we cannot possibly sufficiently praise Hashem for all that He does for us, we can only hope not to be a rejector by not praising him. R' Frand linked this to the Ilu Finu pasuk in the Nishmas in which we state on Shabbos and that there is no way to properly praise Hashem for all that He does for us.
R' Frand also remarked that there is no way to properly recognize all the good that our parents have done for us (and he is right, not that he needs my approbation).
R' Frand also quoted the Brisker Rav on the pasuk in Ha'azinu (Devarim 32:6) in which we are described as Naval --translated as vile by Artscroll. What is a Naval? When an animal dies without shechita it is a neveilah - it loses its status as an animal and is just a disgusting piece of meat. Similarly, a person may have a defect such as being quick to anger or miserly, but he is still a person, just with a defect. But if he is a minuval, he loses his status as a person altogether.
R' Frand told two stories about Rabbis being makir tov. One involved R' Yaakov Kaminetsky who when he was told that a boy was being thrown out of the dorm because he consistently missed minyan asked to have the boy brought to him. When the boy came to see his Rosh Yeshiva, he was asked - where will you sleep? The boy had no answer. R' Kamietsky said --you will stay in my house, because when I was a bachur learning in the Kovno Yeshiva, your grandfather supported the yeshiva.
R' Frand told another story about R' Shach. One day R' Shach called his grandson and told him that he needed a cab to take him to a funeral in Haifa. They traveled together and arrived at a funeral of an older lady. There were very few attendees and it was a cold and rainy day. When the funeral ended, R' Shach went to the cemetery with the mourners and stayed outside in the rain and said the graveside Kaddish. When everyone left, he stayed outside in the rain a little longer, before getting back in the car with his grandson.
The grandson had never heard of the woman and after waiting as long as he could, he asked why R' Shach went to the funeral in Haifa. R' Shach answered that when he was in Yeshiva in Lithuania it was based in a shul. The boys lived in the shul and slept there as well, but because they were so poor. the sleeping arrangements were limited and only the older boys slept on benches. As one of the youngest boys, R' Shach slept on the cold floor. And it was really cold.
One day R' Shach got a letter from an uncle who wanted to leave his business to Rav Shach and asked him to come, because he had no children. R' Shach determined that he would leave the next day, but later in the same day a woman came to Yeshiva. She told them that she had just gotten up from Shiva for her husband who owned a blanket factory and she wanted to know if anyone needed blankets. R' Shach took blankets to use a mattress and on top of him and the floor became tolerable.
R' Shach told his grandson that without those blankets he would not have stayed in Yeshiva and become R' Shach. So he kept tabs on the woman and when she passed he went to the levaya.
The grandson asked - but why did you stay outside at the cemetery after all others had left? R' Shach responded, because I wanted to remember what it was like to be cold.
R' Frand closed the vort by stating --the greater the Tzaddik, the greater his capacity to be makir tov.
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