The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts on the parshios that R' Frand spoke about in his shiur tonight. 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 Shemos 35:30, Moshe again introduces Betzalel to the Jewish people saying רְא֛וּ קָרָ֥א יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּשֵׁ֑ם בְּצַלְאֵ֛ל בֶּן־אוּרִ֥י בֶן־ח֖וּר לְמַטֵּ֥ה יְהוּדָֽה . R' Frand noted that each time that Betzalel is referred to in Chumash he is called by his father and grandfather's name and this very uncommon. So he asked as his first question - why is Betzalel always referred to with his father and grandfather?
R' Frand also noted that Rashi comments about Chur that he was the son of Miriam. But this is not the first time that Rashi mentions this. In fact, this is the third time in Sefer Shemos that Rashi states that Chur was the son of Miriam. So why does he stress this?
R' Frand answered his first question by quoting the Medrash Rabbah which states that Chur is mentioned in conjunction with Betzalel because of Chur's actions at the Egel. When the Jews wanted to worship the Egel, Chur stood up to the mob and was killed in the process. Hashem then said that he would repay Chur for his selflessness. The Medrash gave a mashal about a king whose general staves off a coup, but is killed in the process. The king then says - if I borrowed money from him, would I not have to repay him? Since he gave his life to prevent a rebellion, I will ensure that his children are given noble positions and they will be called by his name.
R' Frand said as an aside that there are times that a boy will come to yeshiva without a strong background and perhaps with parents that are not Shomer Shabbos, yet he will excel and become a great Torah scholar. Why? Because somewhere back in his lineage was a grandfather who did great things and this is the way that Hashem is repaying him for his efforts.
But the question can be asked - certainly Chur knew that the situation was hopeless when he stood up against the mob. Why did he give up his life to try to prevent something which he knew he could not stop?
R' Frand answered that this is a lesson that the end result is not necessarily indicative of whether the action was worth taking. There are times that a person may not succeed, but making the effort is more important than the end result. R' Frand quoted an expression from R' Yisrael Salanter which rhymed in Yiddish and then translated it into English. In life a person needs to do, not to imitate others, or to just make an effort for the sake of saying I tried, or even to succeed, he just needs to act. (Again, the expression in Yiddish seemed more powerful).
So why does Rashi keep emphasizing the connection with Miriam? Because Miriam acted even though she knew that she did not have a chance of succeeding. When she went to her father and told him that it was not right to divorce her mother, she knew that he had already held a rabbinical meeting and decided that this was the proper course of conduct. But she knew that she had to act, that she had to try. This was a quality replicated in her son Chur.
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