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's first vort related to the mitzva of leaving the land fallow during Shemittah. He observed that those who keep Shmitta are called Giborei Koach - men of great strength, because especially in an agrarian economy where if you don't plant you don't eat, they relied on Hashem. He noted that Hashem promises that those who keep Shmitta will receive tremendous blessing, in that their crops from year six will sustain them in years six, seven and eight. It all comes down to a lesson in Bitachon.
R' Frand said that if there is one thing that the Mitzva of Shmitta teaches us, its that Hashem is in charge of our Parnassah, and that when we recite the Gemara that Hashem determines to the dime the Parnassah you will receive, it is 100% accurate.
So why do people cheat on their taxes or in their businesses? R' Frand quoted a story where a person came in R' Schwalb and said that he wanted to do something in his business which was not quite honest. R' Schwalb then asked him who he was and the man said - "I'm a frum Jew." R' Scwalb responded - you are not a frum Jew if this is what you do.
R' Frand said that this is a great test, whether in overcharging or insurance claims or taxes. But if a person believes that Hashem computes our money from Rosh Hashanah, he would not do that.
R' Frand noted that R' Yaakov Kaminetsky was scrupulously honest and that it was fitting that his sefer is Emes L'Yaakov. He had a son named R' Nosson who wanted to see where his father's community was in Europe pre-war. He went to the community and was amazed to see that the Jews in this community in Lithuania survived the war.
R' Nosson approached the mayor of the town and asked - can you tell me why the Jews survived the war? The mayor said - I will tell you exactly why. Before I was the mayor, I was the postmaster. I wanted to see whether the clergy members were honest - so when they bought stamps he would always provide more change then required, to see if they would return the change. And R' Yaakov would always return the extra change. The mayor remarked that he learned that Jews were honest, so when he learned that the Nazis would be taking an action, he would warn the Jews. They would run into the forest and hide until the Nazis left.
When R' Nosson came back to America and asked his father about the postmaster, R' Yaakov said, I can't remember the guy, but I do recall that he couldn't count.
R' Frand said another vort based on the pasuk at the end of the Tochacha in Vayikra 26:42 - וְזָֽכַרְתִּ֖י אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֣י יַֽעֲק֑וֹב, which is read out loud. The spelling of Yaakov is different than usual since there is a Vav at the end of his name where it usually does not appear.
Rashi notes that there are five times that Ya'akov is spelled with a Vuv and Eliyahu is spelled without a Vav. A prime example is the pasuk in Malachi 3:23 -הִנֵּ֚ה אָֽנֹכִי֙ שֹׁלֵ֣חַ לָכֶ֔ם אֵ֖ת אֵֽלִיָּ֣ה הַנָּבִ֑יא לִפְנֵ֗י בּוֹא י֣וֹם יְהֹוָ֔ה הַגָּד֖וֹל וְהַנּוֹרָֽא. Rashi explains that Ya'akov asked Eliyahu to promise that he would come and tell the world that the Moshiach was coming. As part of this promise he took collateral from Eliyahu - the five Vuvs.
R' Frand quoted the Maharal who highlights in the Gur Aryeh each of the five pesukim. Additionally, R' Frand quoted R' Eliyahu Mizrachi who states that the significance of the taking of the Vuv was like the five Chumshei Torah. But the Maharal notes that when a person takes collateral, it is often accompanied by a handshake. And there are five fingers on a hand - so Ya'akov took five Vuvs which are like five fingers. Ya'akov wanted a handshake so he took the five Vuvs so that they could shake on the deal that Eliyahu would come in the future to talk about the Moshiach coming in the future.
R' Frand closed the vort by noting that the Maharal explains that Eliyahu's purpose on the Earth is to redeem the Jews. Eliyahu's name cannot be complete until he fulfills his mission to redeem the Jews.
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