And Moshe heard the people weeping regarding their families. (11:10)
Rashi explains that they were crying because they were just taught the laws of עריות, adultery, and other forbidden relations (see commentaries).
The Mishna in Pirkei Avos (6:5) lists forty-eight qualities, traits, and practices that one must perfect and adopt in order to properly acquire the Torah.
The Zera Shimshon writes the following:
The Gemara teaches (Yoma 72a) that a Torah scholar whose inside does not match his outside is not a Torah scholar. This is derived from the Aron that held the Luchos. It was gold outside as well as inside. A Torah scholar can make his inside like his outside by working on the forty-eight attributes enumerated in the Mishna.
In reality, these forty-eight attributes are two sets of twenty-four. The first twenty-four all begin with a ב, such as בלימוד, בשמיעת האוזן ,וכו' and the next twenty-four begin with a ה, such as המכיר את מקומו, והשמח בחלקו וכו.' These two sets of twenty-four qualities represent the inside and outside that must be perfected; twenty-four qualities to perfect our inside, and twenty-four to perfect our outside. In other words, some of these qualities are attributes, while the others are actions.
The significance of the number twenty-four is that we are taught that there are twenty-four ornaments that outfit the Shechina. To us, this translates as a need for us to perfect ourselves in twenty-four ways, both inside and outside, in order to raise the Shechina up.
The Yalkut Re'uvaini points out that there are four commandments in the second tablet that begin with the letter ו (Devarim 5:17-18). They are ולא תנאף, ולא תגנב, ולא תענה, ולא תחמוד, "and you shall not commit adultery, and you shall not steal, and you shall not bear false witness, and you shall not covet." Four times six (the numerical value of ו is six) is twenty-four. This is because these are four common sins that many people struggle with. The twenty-four books of the Tanach help a person with these struggles.
Each one of the forty-eight qualities enables a person to overcome the evil inclination associated with one of these four commandments. Lining up the first one of these four commandments with the first quality and continuing in such a manner, the ninth quality is בשמחה, with happiness. It corresponds to the commandment of "and you shall not commit adultery." (This would be the beginning of the third cycle. Since there are four commandments and forty-eight attributes, there are a total of twelve cycles.) The fact that "and you shall not commit adultery" lines up with the attribute of happiness can be explained by the passuk in this week's parsha.
The passuk says that the people cried over the fact that certain marriages had become forbidden to them. We can learn from this that sadness and weakness against the yetzer hara of immorality are associated.
If a person wants to be fortified against such desires, he must work on himself to be happy. This will give him the strength to overcome such desires. This will also enable him to learn Torah properly, since he will be purified from negative desires.
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