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 first vort by talking about the Kibbutz Kommeyiut which was a frum Kibbutz and observed Shemittah. The year 1959 was a Shemittah year, but it was also a year that Israel was besieged by locusts. The locusts did not spare Kommeyiut and they attacked all the wood, including the door posts. However, the locusts did not eat any of the trees in the fields.
Thinking that this was an open miracle, the Rav of Kommeyiut went to discuss the phenomenon with the Brisker Rav. The Brisker Rav said to him, no this is not the way that you perceive it as it is a fulfillment of the pasuk in Shemos 10:14 - לְ֠פָנָ֠יו לֹא־הָ֨יָה כֵ֤ן אַרְבֶּה֙ כָּמֹ֔הוּ וְאַֽחֲרָ֖יו לֹ֥א יִֽהְיֶה־כֵּֽן. The Brisker Rav quoted Rashi on this pasuk who asks - but wasn't there a greater plague of locusts in the time of Yoel and for which the Navi writes that there was no plague like this? Rashi explains that the locusts in Yoel's time were diverse as there were four kinds of locusts and that never again was there a plague like that. Although the plague of locusts in Egypt was only one kind, it was the most severe plague of single genus locusts of all time.
The Brisker Rav next quoted the Ramban who in turn quotes Rabbeinu Channanel that the meaning of the pasuk was that there was never a plague of locusts in Egypt's borders, ever again.
He next quoted the Klei Yakar who observes that in Shemos 10:2 the Torah states a requirement to inform ones children and grandchildren about this plague, as the Torah states - וּלְמַ֡עַן תְּסַפֵּר֩ בְּאָזְנֵ֨י בִנְךָ֜ וּבֶן־בִּנְךָ֗ אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁ֤ר הִתְעַלַּ֨לְתִּי֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם - why does this makkah have that requirement? Because when Israel is undergoing a plague of locusts (like what was occurring in 1959) there will not be any locusts in Egypt. When your children and grandchildren ask you why, you should respond based on the pasuk in Shemos 10:14 - this plague was meant to be a sign that there may be locusts in Israel, but never again in Egypt.
R' Frand closed this portion of the vort by quoting a different Medrash which states that Egypt and Kush had an ongoing war for many generations which involved a dispute over the boundary between the two countries. The dispute ended abruptly when the plague of frogs hit Egypt as the Torah states in Shemos 7:27 - וְאִם־מָאֵ֥ן אַתָּ֖ה לְשַׁלֵּ֑חַ הִנֵּ֣ה אָֽנֹכִ֗י נֹגֵ֛ף אֶת־כָּל־גְּבֽוּלְךָ֖ בַּֽצְפַרְדְּעִֽים - the plague would run to the border of Egypt.
R' Frand said a second vort on the plague of darkness, which was followed by an instruction in Shemos 12:2 "דַּבֶּר־נָ֖א בְּאָזְנֵ֣י הָעָ֑ם וְיִשְׁאֲל֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ | מֵאֵ֣ת רֵעֵ֗הוּ וְאִשָּׁה֙ מֵאֵ֣ת רְעוּתָ֔הּ כְּלֵי־כֶ֖סֶף וּכְלֵ֥י זָהָֽב" that the Jews should ask from their friends for gold and silver vessels and items.
The Vilna Gaon is troubled by the traditional interpretation of the pasuk, as a gentile is not identified as re'ehu and the laws apply differently to his property as a result.
In light of this, the Gaon interprets the pasuk literally - that the Jews were instructed to ask each other for the vessels. And even though they were a beaten down nation with very little personal possessions, the Jews gave willingly and with a full heart one to the other. Seeing this, the Egyptians were "infected" by this same niceness as they saw how nicely the Jews were acting with each other and it made them want to be nice and generous to the Jews as well.
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