Behalotcha 1

Travelling with Hashem:
The pasuk (9:18) says "According to the word of Hashem would the Children of Israel journey, and according to the word of Hashem would they encamp..." From this pasuk we can understand very important mussar. People believe that when they are all alone it is okay to do things that are bad, who will know anyway? But no matter where we are we must know that Hahsem is with us. Not only is Hashem with us but He is the one that brought us to this place. So at any moment we might think we are alone and what we do will hidden but it is not true. Also, there is another lesson that we can learn from this. As Jews when we travel everyone can see us and know we are Jews. When people see us act positively they will connect that to Judaism but is God forbid we do something bad they will connect that negative thing to Judaism. We must all know that wherever we go Hashem is right there with us and if we do something good He will be honored.

Eldad and Maidad:
I started these divrei torah last year in parshat shlach but the dvar torah really started with the story of Eldad and Maidad. Those who where not part of the list, or just need some chazarah will understand something that makes them different than all other neviim. We know that Moshe's nevuah was the source of every other navi. That was true for every navi except two, Eldad and Maidad. Normally whenever someone had a nevuah all other neviim would also get the nevuah but only the one that Hashem wanted to give over the message would fully understand it. This is not true of Moshe's nevuah. Only he saw the nevuah whenever the pasuk says "Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe Laimor." If the pasuk said that then he was the only one to receive that message. Also when someone in that time had nevuah he would get it, and understand it as well. But when Eldad and Maidad got their nevuah Moshe did not hear it. This is why Yehoshua was so concerned by their nevuah, but Moshe answered that he wished that everyone could be on the level of Eldad and Maidad.
Their prophecy was that Moshe would die in the midbar and that Yehoshua would bring the Jews up to the land. But the decree had not yet happened that Moshe would die in the midbar, he had not yet sinned by hitting the rock so why was he already destined to die in the midbar? When the Jews complained by asking for meat they were saying that even though they had food from heaven that kept them full all day, never required them to use the bathrooms and they never had to work for anything they were unsatisfied. They wanted more pleasure from this world. Once someone starts to take extra pleasure from this world he begins to remove himself from the next world. As a person gets more involved in the pleasures he cannot stop himself from wanting more. The Megale Amukot says something amazing. He says that really man can live by just eating bread and drinking water, but once he starts eating other food then his body begins to require it. Once the Jews complained for meat is what only a matter of time until they would complain about the water. Just like Moshe spoke out by the rock against the Jews he also said to Hashem against them during the time of the complaining for meat. Since he said something here it is possible to say that even though he had not sinned he had placed himself in the position that when he would be standing in front of the rock he would hit it.
As well there is another point to add to this. Since the Jews had been in the midbar no one had died of natural causes. Every person who died in the midbar died because of a sin they committed. Now the Jews were hearing that Moshe would die. The leader of the nation was going to die, but that would mean he would sin because no one died of natural deaths. In the end Moshe died because he did sin. What mussar can we learn from this? People think that they can gain from sinning. "If I work on Shabbat just think of all of the extra money I can make!" "If I eat a cheeseburger just think how much better it will taste then a kosher hamburger. But it is just the opposite! It is the sins themselves that kill you! If we stay away from sin we gain life.
May we all try to stay away from sin and in that live a long healthy Jewish life.