Rabbi Frand suggested that we can improve our tefilah by wearing proper attire and avoid looking at our cell phones when we daven.

“A lawyer told me that he once walked into court and his top button of his shirt was unbuttoned and his tie was a little below where it should be,” related Rabbi Frand. “The judge told him, ‘If you ever walk into my courtroom like that again, I will throw you out.’ I’m not suggesting that everyone has to wear a tie to daven. I sleep with my tie. But, to walk in and stand before the Ribono shel Olam with your baseball cap turned around? To come to shul dressed like you just came from a softball game? This is how you stand before the Ribono shel Olam? So, I have a suggestion. Let’s start small. It’s less than a week before Yom Kippur. For the next week, daven like a mensch. Or, maybe Tishrei….My hunch is, you won’t stop. Just try it. Come here like you are presenting a case, or trying to close a deal, or going for an interview. Would you walk into an interview like that?”

Regarding looking at your cell phone during davening, Rabbi Frand asked, “If your parents aren’t alive and you are visiting their kevarim, and your cell phone rang, would you answer your phone? It happened to me. I’m not going to answer my phone while at my parents’ graves. It’s disrespectful. If you go to the Kosel Maaravi, would you look at your cell phone? When the Bais HaMikdash will be rebuilt, will you text in the Bais HaMikdash?

“I know a businessman who is very successful and does multi-million dollar deals,” continued Rabbi Frand. “He has a policy. If you are talking to him and there is a pause in the conversation, and you check your cell phone, no matter how lucrative that deal is for him, deal over. Deal off. If you don’t have the courtesy to respect and give me your full attention, I’m not interested in doing business with you. I wonder if the Ribono shel Olam Has the same policy. We daven to the Ribono shel Olam-- we want parnasah, we want gazunt, we want shidduchim, we want nachas. The Ribono shel Olam says, ‘You look at your cell phone--sorry, no deal!’ My hunch is, and Chazal tell us this, human beings are greatly influenced by the way we dress and act--if we dress the part and act the part, and we act as though we are standing before the Melech Malchei Hamalachim, HaKodesh Boruch Hu, it may improve our kavanah. And the other aspect of Yitzchak, is his mesiras hanefesh--the willingness to give up his life for the Ribono shel Olam, as evidenced by the Akeidas Yitzchak, and it is something He passed on to His descendants, the ability to give up our lives for Hashem. That is why, as we know, throughout the ages, “simple” Jews have been giving up their lives for HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

Rabbi Frand mentioned true stories of mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice). A thousand years ago, in Germany, he noted, Jews gave up their lives in the Crusades, rather than convert to Christianity, and 70 or 80 years ago, in New York, they gave up their parnasah (livelihood)--they were moser nefesh--because they refused to work on Shabbos. But, in the last 40-50 years, he said, if not longer, we in America  have not, Boruch Hashem, had to give up our lives and we have not had to give up our parnasahs, and therefore we have not been able to be moser nefesh in the same way …..Just like any muscle in which you don’t use, after a while becomes atrophied, our ability to be moser nefesh and give up things, has also atrophied. And even more than that…when Jews have a power and a tradition, if they do not exercise and use that, the non-Jewish world will usurp that power, perhaps in an ominous and sinister way.

“We have to reinvigorate the heritage of mesiras nefesh,” contends Rabbi Frand. “How do we demonstrate our mesiras nefesh in today’s times? The answer is there is a second definition to the word “nefesh”--it doesn’t only mean your soul, your life. Rashi tells us it means your desire, your will. That is how we can demonstrate today, here and now, by giving up what we desire, submitting to the will of G-d. It doesn’t just mean give up your life, it means sacrifice myself--what I want. It means give up your essence, your desire, your wealth for the Ribono shel Olam. That is mesiras nefesh, as well. We can and should do this, and this is how we will defeat bnai Yishmael.”

Rabbi Frand related how Rabbi Yehuda Friedman, zt”l, the recently deceased father of Rabbi Nosson Friedman, a Rebbe at Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, came to this country with no education and started working for a body shop in Washington, DC. After a while, he got so good at it, he got himself a job at Capitol Cadillac, in the end of the 40s, early 50s, when Cadillac was the top of the line car. He worked there for a couple of years until he decided that it was not a suitable environment--because of the off-color language and the topics spoken about--for a frum yid to be. And, what did he do to replace his salary at Capitol Cadillac? He became a shamash in a shul and lived on a meager salary. He went from Capitol Cadillac to being a shamash, because he said to himself, ‘This is not right’, and he was moser nefesh. He gave up his will for the Ribono shel Olam.

Addressing the women in the audience, Rabbi Frand said, “I know it is extremely hard to dress properly and find modest things to wear, but do it precisely because it is hard. And, if you need an incentive, think of the women of Islam who do it because of a sense of modesty, tznius, although I am not advocating that Jewish women wear burkas or extreme forms of dress.

“We are post the Iran Deal,” concluded Rabbi Frand. “It’s a done deal. Over. They signed the agreement. AIPAC spent $30 million to try to overturn this. $30 million to get four Democrats to change their vote. Didn’t work. They could cheat. We all know that; they know that. They can get the bomb one day. So what can we do? What’s going to be? The only thing that ever matters is the Ribono shel Olam is going to protect us, but He is going to protect us, because we show our devotion to Him. We are going to daven better than they daven. And, we are going to submit to the will of G-d more passionately than they, but not in perverted ways.  That’s how we will win this war. The world hangs in the balance--not only Eretz Yisrael--the world hangs in the balance. We are going to win this war. We are going to defeat the bnei Yishmael, because we are going to be better descendants of Yitzchak than they are to Yishmael...At the end of days, when Yishmael will fall, then the descendant of Dovid, Moshiach ben Dovid will come and Eretz Yisrael will be given to us, bimheira b’yameinu, Amen!”

This was the third year that Stan and Barbara Friedman of Timonium attended the Annual Teshuva Drasha. “You really see the power and importance of prayer, and the need for self-sacrifice, even when it is hard to do,” said Barbara. Her husband, Stan, added, “Rabbi Frand is very inspiring and I always enjoy what he has to say. I only wish I could live up to half of what he proposes…but, I try.”

The Annual Teshuva Drasha is presented under the Orthodox Council of Jewish Congregations of Baltimore, Yerachmiel Kagan, president. The Corporate Sponsors for this year’s Drasha were Seven Mile Market and Sol Levinson Bros. (Associate Sponsor). Other contributors included: Chevra Ahavas Chesed, The Baltimore Eruv, and Staiman Design. Kudos to all those who contributed to the much needed funds for Ahavas Yisrael, at the door.