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.
In Devarim 29:9-10, the Torah describes the people who were standing before Moshe - stating רָאשֵׁיכֶ֣ם שִׁבְטֵיכֶ֗ם זִקְנֵיכֶם֙ וְשֹׁ֣טְרֵיכֶ֔ם כֹּ֖ל אִ֥ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל. טַפְּכֶ֣ם נְשֵׁיכֶ֔ם וְגֵ֣רְךָ֔ אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּקֶ֣רֶב מַחֲנֶ֑יךָ מֵחֹטֵ֣ב עֵצֶ֔יךָ עַ֖ד שֹׁאֵ֥ב מֵימֶֽיךָ. On a simple level these are people on the social ladder from the heads of the tribes to the water carriers and wood cutters. However, Rashi does not provide the literal interpretation. Instead he explains that the wood cutters and water carriers refer to Akum who came to convert because they saw the Jews succeeding, but these people were rebuffed by Moshe as their conversion was not sincerely motivated. Rather than being turned away, they were allowed to join the camp, but were given these menial jobs. Rashi notes that this occurred with the Givonim in the time of Yehoshua as well.
R' Frand asked - why did Rashi need to give this interpretation, rather than simply explaining that these people were on different social scales? R' Frand quoted the Sefer - Arzei HaParsha who connected this with a story involving the Beis HaLevi. When the Beis HaLevi was travelling he encountered a former Talmid and asked him - what are you doing? The student responded - I am in the sugar business. The Beis HaLevi asked again - what are you doing? The student responded with a more detailed description of the sugar business. The Beis HaLevi asked a third time - what are you doing, and explained - I don't want to know about your business. What you do for a living is what Hashem provides for you as a means to support yourself. I want to know what you are doing - are you having Sedarim, where are your children going to Yeshiva, where do you Daven and where are you holding with your Yahadus. A Jew is not defined by his profession or business - that's how you make a living, not who you are. Rashi needed to make this explanation because the Torah would not refer to someone by his profession. Instead, it is an explanation of why the jobs are mentioned - because they are Akum who are defined by their jobs.
R' Frand said that the Arzei HaParsha actually quoted a story that he (R' Frand) had told years earlier in connection with a journalist for the Baltimore Sun. The journalist said that he did not want to go to cocktail parties, because people would invariably ask what do you do for a living. He devised a plan to end the conversation at that point by telling people - I am an IRS agent.
R' Frand then linked this to the story of Yonah and specifically Yonah 1:8 when the people on the boat asked him מַה־מְּלַאכְתְּךָ֙ וּמֵאַ֣יִן תָּב֔וֹא מָ֣ה אַרְצֶ֔ךָ וְאֵֽי־מִזֶּ֥ה עַ֖ם אָֽתָּה - what is your job and where did you come from, what is your land and which nation are you from. Yonah responded by saying עִבְרִ֣י אָנֹ֑כִי. He does not give his profession - I am a prophet. Instead he said - I am a Jew, that's what defines me.
R' Frand said that the Arzei HaParsha observes that being an Ivri comes from Avraham where the term is used once, when Og comes to tell him about Lot. Chazal explain that being an Ivri means that he is an iconoclast and he stands up against the world. Why does this come up now? Because Og is telling him about Lot so that Avraham would go to war and die and he could marry Sarah. Avraham is called an Ivri because he is out of his mind to go to war against the kings to try to rescue Lot.
There is one other person called an Ivri - Yosef. Why does he have that title? Because he is a 17 year old boy who is out of his environment and he resists the wife of Potiphar when she tries to seduce him. Because he is an Ivri and he stands against the world.
The second vort that R' Frand told related to the word אַתֶּ֨ם which is the beginning of the first pasuk in the parhsa. The Ba'al Haturim states that there are three other Pesukim which begin with אַתֶּ֨ם:
(1) Shemos 5:11 אַתֶּ֗ם לְכ֨וּ קְח֤וּ לָכֶם֙ תֶּ֔בֶן מֵאֲשֶׁ֖ר תִּמְצָ֑אוּ - Pharaoh tells the Jews they must go and find straw on their own to make bricks; (2) Shemos 19:4 where Hashem tells the Jews אַתֶּ֣ם רְאִיתֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשִׂ֖יתִי לְמִצְרָ֑יִם - you have seen what I did to Egypt and a pasuk in Isaiah (I don' t have the cite) - you are My witnesses (Atem eidai n'eum Hashem).
But what is the connection between the pesukim? Rabbi Frand answered by making reference to a vort from the Reisha Rav (grandfather of noted constitutional lawyer - Nat Lewin) who wrote in his sefer Hadrash V'Haiyun that the Jews noticed a change - in the beginning in Egypt they saw public miracles. They saw that Pharaoh wanted to break them and that Hashem saved them. However, later in Jewish history the miracles appeared to be hidden or even non existent. The Reisha Rav said that this perception is incorrect - the miracle of today is even greater - the fact that there still is a Jewish people is a great open miracle - this is אַתֶּ֨ם נִצָּבִ֤ים הַיּוֹם֙ כֻּלְּכֶ֔ם לִפְנֵ֖י יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֑ם and this is Atem Edai - you, the Jews bear witness that I am continuing to make miracles as you are still around.
Rabbi Frand then quoted R Chatzkhel Levenstein who said that the saving of the Mirrer Yeshiva students and their transport to Shanghai during the Holocaust was a greater miracle than the story of Esther. He also quoted R' Yaakov Emden (the Ya'avetz) who said that if we think about the fact that there are Jews today, despite the generations and generations where people rose up and tried to wipe out the Jews, we would understand that the continuation of the Jewish people is a greater miracle than leaving Egypt.
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