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/88607, 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.
Rabbi Frand began the vort by quoting from Devarim 14:22 which states עַשֵּׂ֣ר תְּעַשֵּׂ֔ר אֵ֖ת כָּל־תְּבוּאַ֣ת זַרְעֶ֑ךָ הַיֹּצֵ֥א הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה שָׁנָ֥ה שָׁנָֽה. R' Frand observed that this is not the mitzva of ma'aser that most people think of as this is not the tithe which is given to the Levi. This is the mitzva of ma'aser sheni which is eaten in Jerusalem. Why is this done? The Torah states in the next pasuk that it will cause an increase in your Yiras Shamayim.
The Torah also contains an "out" whereby the farmer does not need to take this up to Jerusalem and instead he can redeem the produce on a coin and then take the money to Jerusalem and buy and eat food there.
Rashi notes that this tithe is not given to anyone else - it is for you to eat. And if you can't shlep the food, redeem it on money and spend it on food for yourself in Jerusalem. R' Frand remarked - it don't get any better than this!
But how does eating your food in Jerusalem increase your Yiras Shamayim?
R' Frand answered by quoting Tosafos in Bava Basra which in turn cites a Sifrei which explains that when a person goes up to Jerusalem he needs to stay until he finishes all of his crops. During this time he sees all the Kohanim and Lev'im whose lives are focused on Torah and Yiras Shamayim.
R' Frand noted that certain cities are associated with certain industries - Detroit is connected with cars. Los Angeles is the entertainment industry.
The industry of Jerusalem is Avodas Hashem - seeing that these people's lives revolve around Hashem. After spending a few weeks around these people, your life will change.
Rabbi Frand noted that this Shabbos is also the Shabbos that we announce and bench Rosh Chodesh Elul. R' Frand remarked that people shook when they heard that Elul was coming and he remembered seeing people where the Yiras Shamayim for Elul was on their faces. We may not be on that level and we don't have a Beis Hamikdash, but in Yeshivos and Kollels, people daven with greater concentration in Elul. People can return to daven in Yeshivos in Elul - not necessarily to learn, but to see people davening with Elul on their faces.
R' Frand spoke about what can be seen in Yeshivos - where people argue about the meaning of a Tosafos or line in Shulchan Aruch. This is something that we can observe and it can have an impact on us where we see people who live Torah and recognize Elul.
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