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.
R' Frand began by noting that Tzaraas comes as a result of speaking loshon hara and quoted "the seforim" which teach that the pasuk in Vayikra 14:2 stating זֹ֤את תִּֽהְיֶה֙ תּוֹרַ֣ת הַמְּצֹרָ֔ע should be learned as this is the Torah of one who is Motzei Shem Ra.
R' Frand also quoted the Rashi in Shelach which states why did the story of the Meraglim follow the story of Miriam speaking lashon hara about Moshe and receiving Tzaraas? Because they did not learn from Miriam's punishment.
R' Frand then quoted Rabbi Weinberg who asked why they should have learned from Miriam? They spoke about an inanimate object with no feeling. Why should they learn from someone who spoke about a person?
R' Frand asked a second question related to the punishment for the Meraglim of spending 40 years in the desert as equivalent to the 40 days they were in the land of Israel. But they did not speak loshon hora for 40 days - it probably took only a few minutes! They were only in the land for 40 days.
R' Frand quoted R' Nissim Alpert who quoted the gemara about the peddler who asks people if they want the elixir of life and then quotes from Tehillim - מִֽי־הָ֖אִישׁ הֶֽחָפֵ֣ץ חַיִּ֑ים אֹ֘הֵ֥ב יָ֜מִ֗ים לִרְא֥וֹת טֽוֹב. R' Frand asked where is the question mark? Is it in the middle of the pasuk or at the end of the pasuk? He answered that the question mark should be in the middle and that the answer is that the person should live his life as אֹ֘הֵ֥ב יָ֜מִ֗ים לִרְא֥וֹת טֽוֹב - a person needs to live his life seeing the good and it will prevent him from speaking evil.
This brings us back to the question raised about the Meraglim not learning from Miriam. Their problem was that they did not see that Miriam's problem was that she did not look at Moshe with a positive outlook and they did the same when speaking about the land.
This also answers the second question - they were punished one year for one day because when they walked around the land they viewed the land negatively. Chazal tell us that they had a negative view and said אֶ֣רֶץ אֹכֶ֤לֶת יֽוֹשְׁבֶ֨יהָ֙ הִ֔וא (Bamidbar 13:32) based on all the funerals they saw. However they could have looked at the positive - because the people of the land were so preoccupied with the funerals, they did not keep an eye out for the Meraglim.
R' Frand closed the vort by quoting from the end of Parshas Tazria and the discussion of Tzaraas HaBeged. At the end of the inspection and cleansing process, the pasuk states in Vayikra 13:55 וְרָאָ֨ה הַכֹּהֵ֜ן אַֽחֲרֵ֣י | הֻכַּבֵּ֣ס אֶת־הַנֶּ֗גַע וְ֠הִנֵּ֠ה לֹֽא־הָפַ֨ךְ הַנֶּ֤גַע אֶת־עֵינוֹ֙ וְהַנֶּ֣גַע לֹֽא־פָשָׂ֔ה . R' Frand said that the pasuk can be learned al pi derush - that the nega did not change the person's eye - his negative eye did not change as a result of the Tzaraas, that is why the nega is still there.
R' Frand quoted the Chidushei HaRim who notes that nega and oneg are both spelled the same way. What is the difference between the two words? Its where you put the ayin.
R' Frand said a second vort on the purification process from Tzaraas where the Torah states in Vayikra 14:28 that the Kohain took from the blood of the Asham and applied it to the person's earlobe and pinky. Why? The Meshech Chachma explains based on the gemara which states that the reason the pinky is made the way that it is, is so that you can put it in your ear and prevent yourself from hearing loshon hara. And the person did not do so. But there is another way to prevent it - as the gemara also teaches that the earlobe is malleable so that you can use it to prevent yourself from hearing loshon hara.
R' Frand then quoted the Maharal in Nesivos Olam who asked why you need two protections. Although the Chofetz Chaim states that its to be a complete protection, the Maharal states that its due to the rules of tumah in the morning. When a person wakes up they are not supposed to put their fingers in any orifice until the hands are washed. So if a person hears loshon hora before getting to a place where he can wash, he can still put his earlobe into the ear to prevent himself from hearing loshon hara.
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