The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand in his annual Teshuva Derasha which was broadcast live from Baltimore on the TCN network this evening. I have attempted to summarize the first part of the derasha in this post and iyh will do an additional post over the weekend. 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.
Rabbi Frand began by noting that this year there is no need to look for a topic for the derasha as the events of Shmini Atzeres/Simchas Torah (October 7) and the subsequent horrible events needed to be the subject of the derasha. But while the topic is obvious, the message is a daunting challenge. We do not have Nev'im to tell us the message and we live in the fog of Hester Panim.
But even though we don't have Nevi'im, Hashem speaks to us cryptically through events and it is our job to figure it out.
R' Frand noted that the majority of Jews who are not religious are not asking themselves - what does Hashem want. But those who are Frum believe in divine intervention and when a world shattering event occurs - Hashem is not only speaking to us - He is shouting at us.
R' Frand stated that we should not look at the non-religious and say that the events occurred because they are not religious. R' Frand quoted the Brisker Rav who said that this is an incorrect mindset and he brought a proof from the story of Yonah which we will read on Yom Kippur afternoon. When Yonah gets on the boat there was a terrible storm and the boat was going to capsize. During this time, the sailors all worshipped their idols while Yonah slept. But then Yonah said - this is my fault - its not the idol worshippers. The Brisker Rav in his time said that the events which were occurring were not due to the actions or inactions of the Chilonim - it was due to the actions of the frum Jews.
So what is the message? R' Frand said that it is well above his pay grade. But he did note that there was a message from the events of April 13, 2024 when all the projectiles from Iran were shot down and not a single Jew in Israel died. An Israeli general called it a statistical anomaly, as the Iron Dome was only rated as being able to intercept 90% of the incoming projectiles.
But even if you have forgotten about the events of April 13, 2024, think back to last week when Iran launched not drones or cruise missiles - but ballistic missiles which are much harder to intercept. And not a single Jew was killed.
R' Frand said that this message from Hashem was - this is a miracle to show you that I still love you. And even though I punished you for whatever the reason, I am like a father and I still love you and have not abandoned you.
But R' Frand said that there is another message from this miracle - you still need Me. You can't do this just with your high tech wizardly - that can fail. Just think back to October 7 when the great Israeli army and intelligence and defense was overrun by men on motorcycles and hang gliders. The message was - you can't do this yourself, you still need Me.
R' Frand said that he saw a quote from a female member of the Knesset who by her own admission was not a religious woman. She said that we need the protection of Hashem and the Rabbanim who learn Torah. And she was heckled by members of the Knesset but she stood her ground because she knew she was right.
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