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 tonight's vort by quoting the Medrash which stated that for the Levi'im who carried the various articles of the Mishkan there were varying degrees of reward, but the greatest reward was for carrying the Aron Kodesh. As a result, everyone wanted to be the carrier of the Aron and at times no one wanted to carry the Shulchan or the Menorah or other sacred objects.
But beyond the mere desire to carry the Aron, occasionally there were arguments over who would carry the Aron and people would act with each other in a disrespectful manner. This caused the Shechina to be Pogeah them and resulted in an instruction in Bamidbar 4:18 אַל־תַּכְרִ֕יתוּ אֶת־שֵׁ֖בֶט מִשְׁפְּחֹ֣ת הַקְּהָתִ֑י מִתּ֖וֹךְ הַֽלְוִיִּֽם - don't cause the tribe of the family of Kehas to be cut off. The Torah then continues and states in 4:19, וְזֹ֣את | עֲשׂ֣וּ לָהֶ֗ם וְחָיוּ֙ וְלֹ֣א יָמֻ֔תוּ בְּגִשְׁתָּ֖ם אֶת־קֹ֣דֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁ֑ים - do this for them so that they should live and not die. What should be done? The Medrash explains that this instruction was that the family of Kehas should be given specific jobs so that there would not be any fighting.
R' Frand noted that the incident is also mentioned the section of the Mesilas Yesharim entitled Mishkal HaChassidus. R' Frand quipped that the Ramchal was not writing about current Chassidus, he was writing about being careful when to be overly pious. The section explains that it is worthy for people to seek out Mitzvos, but if your pursuit of Mitzvos results in fighting or G-d forbid a Chillul Hashem, it is not the right result, much like the instruction to the Levi'im that the family of Kehas should be given specific jobs so that there will not be fighting.
R' Frand told a personal story about being in a shul where someone had made a stir over the fact that an aveil was davening for the amud during the Aseres Yimei Teshuva. He explained that there is apparently a minhag (previously unknown to him) in some circles that an aveil does not daven for the amud during this period. But was it worth embarrassing this man who was unaware of the minhag?
R' Frand closed the vort by quoting the famous story of R' Yisrael Salanter being invited to the home of a wealthy man for Shabbos dinner. The man told R' Yisrael that his table was filled with zemiros that went on for hours, but R' Yisrael told him that he would only come if the meal was limited to two hours. Why? Because he knew that a widow was working in the kitchen and he wanted to make sure that the meal would end with enough time for her to get back to her own home to eat with her children.
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