The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. 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 quoting a Medrash Tanchuma which states that anyone who has food today and asks what will I have tomorrow (he lives day to day - hand to mouth) is a person with little emunah. The simple explanation of this Medrash is that the person has little emunah because he is not relying on Hashem to provide for him. Just as Hashem provides today, he will provide tomorrow. But R' Frand gave a deeper explanation that the person is showing that he does not rely on Hashem right now. A person should not assume that things cannot change during the day and must realize that even though he has right now, he is relying on Hashem that the situation will continue through the day.
R' Frand then said a second vort from the Medrash Tanchuma in connection with Krias Yam Suf. The Medrash Tanchuma writes that Hashem repaid Yosef for his resisting the wife of Potiphar. The Torah states in Bereishis 39:12 וַיַּֽעֲזֹ֤ב בִּגְדוֹ֙ בְּיָדָ֔הּ וַיָּ֖נָס וַיֵּצֵ֥א הַחֽוּצָה - when she grabbed him and attempted to seduce him he ran away and left his garment with her. As a reward for his doing so, when the Yam Suf saw the coffin of Yosef it split as it states in Tehillim 114:3 - הַיָּ֣ם רָאָה וַיָּנֹ֑ס. The Medrash use the terms "nas mipnei hanas" - it fled because of the one that fled. And what did it see that caused it to flee? It saw that Yosef kept the Aseres HaDibros in Egypt.
The Medrash Tanchuma also quotes Shimon Ish Kitron who writes that the nations of the world later saw the coffin of Yosef preceding the Aron holding the Aseres HaDibros and asked - why would the coffin come first? The Jews responded, since Yosef lived a life of the Aseres Hadibros, so his coffin is honored with preceding the Aron in the desert.
R' Frand next quoted the Maharal who writes in Gevuros Hashem that the Yam Suf saw Yosef and split, because just as Yosef went against his nature, so too the Yam Suf did as well. Yosef was a 17 year old man who was alone by himself in Egypt with no family and was with a woman who tried to seduce him. Since he went against his nature and resisted her, so too the Yam Suf went against nature and split.
The Maharal also quoted R' Banai who writes that the Yam Suf split in the zechus of Avraham. Avraham went against his nature and bound his son and was willing to sacrifice him. The Torah writes in Bereishis 22:3 - וַיְבַקַּע֙ עֲצֵ֣י עֹלָ֔ה - Avraham split the wood for the sacrifice. In the zechus of this action, the Torah states in Shemos 14:21 - the waters split וַיִּבָּֽקְע֖וּ הַמָּֽיִם. Just as Avraham who was willing to sacrifice his son went against his nature, so too the splitting of the waters was against nature too.
This is Judaism at its essence, we look past our desires and do what Hashem asks us to do. We overcome our proclivities and dont eat whatever we see or follow our lusts. We do what Hashem asks us to do.
R' Frand then said that he went to be menachem aveil by R' Shmuel Kaminetsky this afternoon wherein R' Shmuel confirmed the following story. There was a Jew who was having a Shalom Bayis issue and he went to ask his Rav what to do. The Rav said, you need to ask a Gadol - go ask R' Shmuel. The man called and made an appointment for 5 PM this past Sunday. When he showed up on Sunday, R' Shmuel said to him - I need to visit someone in the hospital, can you drive me and we will speak? The man agreed. When they got to the hospital he asked the man - can you wait and we will continue the conversation after? The man agreed. An hour later, R Shmuel came out of the hospital and they continued their conversation.
The back story is that R' Shmuel was not just visiting someone, he was visiting his dying wife. Rather than push off the man, he asked to go with him to the hospital. And when he got there to say good bye to his wife, he asked the man to wait and then after saying good bye to his wife, got back in the car to complete the conversation. Anyone else would have said - this is not a good time, could we reschedule? But R' Shmuel wanted to help the man and he overcame his nature to try to help him.
After R' Frand confirmed the story with R' Shmuel, he told R' Shmuel that it reminded him of a story with R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, whose wife also pre-deceased him. R' Shlomo Zalman was in the hospital with his wife when she passed and when he was leaving, he bumped into one of his talmidim who said "Rebbi, Mazal Tov! I just had a baby boy." R' Shlomo Zalman smiled his patented great smile and wished him a Mazal Tov, despite the fact that he had just lost his wife. Because Hashem wants us to go against our nature and do things for others.
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