The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts on the parsha 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 the first pasuk of this week's Parsha, the Torah states וַֽיְהִי֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁמִינִ֔י קָרָ֣א משֶׁ֔ה לְאַֽהֲרֹ֖ן וּלְבָנָ֑יו וּלְזִקְנֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל - that on the eighth day Moshe, called to Aharon and his sons and the elders of the Jewish people. Immediately thereafter, the Torah writes that Aharon was told to bring an Egel as a sacrifice and then in the next pasuk, the Jews were told to bring and Egel and a Sa'ir.
Rashi writes that the reason that Aharon brought the Egel was to atone for his involvement in the Egel HaZahav. The Sifra (as quoted by the Ramban) writes that the Jews brought an Egel to atone for their involvement in the Egel and a Sa'ir to atone for the sale of Yosef.
R' Frand quoted the sefer Be'er Yosef by R' Yosef Salant who asked what the connection was between the sale of Yosef and the Egel? He also asked another question - why did the elders of the Jewish people need to be present? Rashi states that they were there because it was to make clear that he was not choosing Aharon on his own volition. but this was already made clear in Parshas Tzav!
R' Frand next quoted the Medrash Rabbah which links the parsha to a statement of R' Akiva that the Jews are compared to a bird. Just as the bird cannot fly without wings, the Jews cannot succeed without their elders. But how does this connect to the parsha?
The Be'er Yosef explains that the common thread of the Egel and the sale of Yosef was the actions of people who did not ask questions of their leaders. The Jews made the Egel because they felt that Moshe was not coming back and they wanted an intermediary, although the end result was that the Egel was worshipped instead. However, their original thought should have been brought to Aharon to ask - is this appropriate. Instead they went forward and Chur was killed when he stood in their way. When they came to Aharon he could not stand up to them because he knew that if they killed him they would have committed an even greater sin of killing a Kohain and Navi.
Similarly, the brothers thought that Yosef had sinned and wanted to bring him to justice. But they did not ask whether they were right. They could have asked Ya'akov - and even if they felt he could not be impartial due to his being their father, they could have asked Yitzchak who was still alive. Furthermore, even if they felt that Yitzchak would be influenced by the familial connection, they could have asked in Yeshiva Shem V'Ever. But they chose not to ask, and their atonement in this parsha is linked by R' Akiva to the Jewish people's need for the zekeinim to guide them.
R' Frand finished the vort by noting that Nadav & Avihu were killed in a public way on one of the happiest days. Why? Because they chose to bring a sacrifice which was unsanctioned and again, without asking whether their action was appropriate...on the same day that the Jews sought atonement for their acting without asking.
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