The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand in his annual Teshuva Derasha which was broadcast on the TCN network . This was a very powerful derasha and my attempt to summarize should not be viewed as an exact transcript as it is based on my notes. 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 stating that he is not a prophet or the son of a prophet. But he knows that Hashem is saying. R' Frand quoted a Medrash which states that when the Jews are in a Beis Medrash and are listening to shiurim, Hashem is happy in his world and he calls the angels and tells them - look how my creations are coming to hear my Torah and be Meshabyach me. R' Frand said that even if you got nothing out of the derasha, this is your reward.
R' Frand then started the derasha by quoting the Gemara at the end of Sotah which talks about what will happen at the time before Moshiach comes. This includes that Chutzpah will be rampant, the prices will be high, the old will stand up to honor the young and the young will insult their elders. But R' Frand cited one specific section - that the truth will be absent. And we will have nothing to rely on besides Hashem.
R' Frand quoted R' Yerucham Levovitz who asked - will this be unique? Who else can we rely on? He answers that in the past there were other things that we could rely on such as Nevi'im and the Urim VeTumim and we could also rely on the truth. But today it is as though reality does not exist anymore. R' Frand gave numerous modern day examples - there is a basic reality that a person is born male or female, but not anymore. R' Frand quoted a list of "broken things" which appeared in the press - things that we previously relied on. But today the truth is replaced by woke and as one presidential candidate stated - woke is a war on the truth. R' Frand quoted the governor of South Dakota who said "woke is what we did at 530 AM to milk the cows."
R' Frand said that this is why the time before Moshiach is different. Because even without a Navi or the Urim VeTumim we could rely on the truth. But no longer. R' Frand quoted an article which noted that journalism has lost credibility with the public - whether you listen to Fox or CNN, there is a bias.
And when the Jews live in such a society it falls on us to become particular to protect ourselves from these developments - and especially in the matter of truth. R' Frand quoted R' Yona who said that it is assur to be gonev da'as of an akum, even worse than being goney mamon. When one lies it is an attack on one's soul. R' Frand said that we should cringe when we hear that Amazon has changed return policies because they feel that people in certain zipcodes are abusing it - and its not Fargo, ND. Or the people who buy air conditioners in Walmart and return them at the end of the summer.
R' Frand said that there is no more important a time to be diligent in being truthful than now. We pray with our mouths for a good year and it needs to be in good working order to do so. If we have damaged our mouths with falsehood it is hard to make out mouths work properly. We know that Hashem's signet is truth.
R' Frand noted that we do Hataras Nedarim to prepare for Yom Tov. Why? Its not like Bedikas Chametz before Pesach! He answered that we need to make sure that if we did not keep our word that it has been taken care of, before we can daven on the Yamim Noraim.
R' Frand told a story about Mrs KB's alta zayde - R' Elya Lopian - who when he said that the Hinneni before Musaf on Yomim Noraim would not say the words Nirash V'Nichpad - because he was not trembling. R' Frand told a story about R' Yaakov Kaminetsky who was a litvak but never ate Gebruchtz. Why? Because when he was 14 he was in yeshiva and he was told to go to a certain house for Pesach. Since he had concerns about Kashrus he told the people he could not eat there because he did not eat Gebrutchtz. And from that point forward he would never eat Gebruchtz.
R' Frand also told a story about R' Rif who was the Rav in Camden NJ and was also the Rav HaMachshir for 999 kosher. On one of his factory visits he asked for a salami. He had never asked before, but this time he asked and then cut it open and ate some. Why? Because someone called to ask about the Kashrus and then asked him - do you eat the products? He said yes, but later realized that he had not - so he went and asked for some.
He also told a story about R' Chaim Kanievsky who was asked to sign a letter on behalf of a Tzedakah, but refused because the letter was written during the day and now it was night.
R' Frand told a story about the Chofetz Chaim which absolutely blew me away. When he applied for a passport to visit Eretz Yisrael, there was a section of the application which asked for "occupation." Although he was a Rav and a prolific Tamid Chacham, he did not have formal Semicha. So he wrote to R' Chaim Ozer to obtain semicha (R' Frand quipped that he was sure that the Chofetz Chaim did not need to take a bechina). R' Frand remarked - even though the phone book is filled with every Tom, Dick and Harry who is called Rabbi, the Chofetz Chaim would not write that as his profession until he was formally given Semicha as it was not Emes.
IYH I will try to finish the summary tomorrow before Yom Kippur.
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