Although there are no live Rabbi Frand shiurim on the Parsha until Elul, I learned this evening that beginning earlier this summer, R' Frand has been posting a pre-recorded Parsha vort on OU Torah. This week's vort can be found at https://outorah.org/p/87909, but I have attempted to reproduce the vort to the best of my ability in this post. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggid shiur.
This week's parsha contains the second mention of the Aseres HaDibros in the Torah. Prior to Moshe reviewing with the Jews the Aseres HaDibros now for the second time, he states in Devarim 5:2-3 that Hashem had made a covenant with the Jews in Chorev and that the covenant was not only with their forefathers, but with everyone who was there that day.
R' Frand noted that there are many similarities and differences between the Aseres HaDibros in Parshas Yisro and in Parshas Vaeschanan. However, one major connection between the two is that in Parshas Yisro, prior to the Aseres HaDibros, Hashem says in Shemos 19:6 - וְאַתֶּ֧ם תִּֽהְיוּ־לִ֛י מַמְלֶ֥כֶת כֹּֽהֲנִ֖ים וְג֣וֹי קָד֑וֹשׁ אֵ֚לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תְּדַבֵּ֖ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל - the Jews shall be a kingdom of princes and a holy nation.
R' Frand remarked that there was no greater or more momentous event in human history...and you would think that Moshe would give a tremendous speech to underscore it. However the pasuk ends with an instruction that Moshe should tell this to the people and Rashi comments that Moshe did - with no embellishment or redaction.
But why were there no changes?
R' Frand noted that when a person becomes a Ba'al Teshuva, he is not instructed all the laws at once, because then he will ask - why are there rules about how to eat watermelon (when there was seeded watermelon) on Shabbos? Instead, a Ba'al Teshuva is given specific instructions piece by piece. Yet, when Moshe delivered the Torah to the Jews, he did it all in one shot. Why? Because Moshe is told that that he needs to tell the Jews that they are a מַמְלֶ֥כֶת כֹּֽהֲנִ֖ים וְג֣וֹי קָד֑וֹשׁ and because of their special nature, they can and will absorb all of the laws at one time. This is the only message that they need to hear, because I know their nature and they can accept it.
R' Frand said that the second aspect of the pasuk is that the Jews are told - this is our mission statement. R' Frand quoted R' Luban who told a story about a family in Jerusalem who had a very challenging child. At some point they needed to put the child in an institution and they asked R' Shlomo Zalman if this was the right thing to do. He told them - you need to discuss it with your child.
The parents were confused - if this child was so challenged that he needed to be in an institution, how could he comprehend the discussion? R' Shlomo Zalman answered - you can't just drop a child off. You need to speak with him. So R' Shlomo Zalman went to meet with the child himself. He introduced himself as "R' Shlomo Zalman, the Gadol HaDor" and then proceeded to tell the child that there was an institution that needed a Rabbi and that he wanted the boy to be his emissary at the institution. This was his mission statement and that was what he needed to do.
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