The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parshios 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 the vort by quoting from R' Mordechai Druk in his Sefer Derash Mordechai which quotes the Shelah who states that the 42 masaaos are symbolic as each Jew has 42 stations to travel in his lifetime.
R' Frand said that you can have your own interpretation of what the 42 stations means, but R' Druk says that the lesson is that a person should not be resistant to change and should have the flexibility to move.
R' Frand mentioned that he had a child which had a more difficult time with Shidduchim. He said that he kept a notebook of the Shidduch suggestions and he had a thought at some point that he would burn the notebook after the wedding. But he changed his mind and said that there is something to be learned from each encounter, just like the 42 masaaos were part of the Jews' evolution in the desert.
R' Frand said a second vort related to the concept of Ir Miklat in which the Torah says that the murderer must stay until the death of the Kohain who was anointed with the holy oil. The Gemara in Makkos asks - did the murderer anoint him with the oil? The Gemara answers that this refers to the Kohain Gadol who was anointed in his lifetime. Because if a murderer is on trial and during the trial the Kohain Gadol dies and a new Kohain Gadol is appointed, he must wait until the death of the second Kohain Gadol.
R' Frand quoted the Meshech Chachma who states that you see the Hashgacha Pratis in that Hashem has in mind how long the person should be in the Ir Miklat. Hashem picks the replacement Kohain Gadol based on the lifespan of the Kohain Gadol. If the murderer was supposed to be in the Ir Miklat for 5 years, a Kohain Gadol who will live 5 years is selected. The two concepts are inextricably linked.
R' Frand quoted another Gemara from Makkos which states that the mother of the Kohain Gadol would provide food and drink to the murderers so that they would not daven for the death of the Kohain Gadol. R' Frand had two observations about this:
Thought one - the people praying are not Tzadikim - they are murderers. Who cares about their prayers? R' Frand answered that we see from this that the more a person cares about his tefillos, the more effective it is. When a person prays that someone should do something for him, there are two aspects - the person you want to act and Hashem who you want to influence him. But with this prayer its just about Hashem.
Thought two - R' Frand asked - because the mother of the Kohain Gadol made brownies for him, the murderer will accept that he needs to stay longer in the Ir Miklat? R' Frand answered from R' Zalman Sorotskin that the murderer will still daven, but not with as much Kavana as the murderer will think - its not so bad, I get care packages. If a tefillah can be influenced in this fashion it will be less powerful and less likely to be accepted.
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