The Mishna is teaching us that if we live a life filled with and focused on Moshiach (the third Beis HaMikdash, third Geula etc.), the Yetzer Hara cannot get a Jew to sin.
By Rabbi Gershon Avtzon
Dear Reader sh’yichyeh,
In the first Mishna of third chapter of Pirkei Avos, the chapter that we will be learning this week, we learn: “Akavia the son of Mahalalel would say: Reflect upon three things and you will not come to the hands of transgression. Know from where you came, where you are going, and before Whom you are destined to give a judgment and accounting. From where you came – from a putrid drop; where you are going – to a place of dust, maggots and worms; and before Whom you are destined to give a judgment and accounting – before the supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.”
An obvious question arises upon reading the Mishna: We know that the Mishna’s wording is always very exact. Many lessons are learned in the Gemara from the seemingly additional words in a Mishna. Therefore, we must understand the significance of the seemingly redundant phrase in the introduction “Reflect upon three things and you will not come to the hands of transgression.” Can’t we count ourselves without it being spelled out for us?
The Rebbe (in the summer sichos of 5751) explained a fascinating concept. The Mishna is teaching us that if we live a life filled with and focused on Moshiach (the third Beis HaMikdash, third Geula etc.), the Yetzer Hara cannot get a Jew to sin.
In the words of the Rebbe (VaEschanan 5751) “…An additional lesson and directive concerning Redemption can be derived also from the beginning of the third chapter of Pirkei Avos, ‘Look at three things’:
“The term ‘three things’ standing alone can be a hint to the third Redemption and the third Holy Temple, the third Redemption and the third Holy Temple, because each comprises the virtues of the first Redemption as well as the second and the first Temple together with the second. Furthermore, the double features will be combined as one.
“The imperative of the Mishna, ‘look,’ implies gazing intently, by deeply reflecting and contemplating matters concerning the third Redemption and the third Beis HaMikdash (‘three things’), imbued with feelings of anticipation and exceptional yearning, ‘I anticipate his coming every day,’ implying that he will come every day, this day, literally. How much more so, now that we stand on the threshold of Redemption, the gazing at these three matters ought to be increased and done with more vigor.
“The suggestion can be made that the one’s reflection on matters of the third Redemption and third Holy Temple (‘three matters’) has the capacity to affect completeness to all of our efforts within the ‘three pillars’ – the three modes of expression of Torah, service (prayer) and loving-kindness – whose fulfillment is through the three ‘garments’ of the soul, thought, speech and action. When one’s thoughts are directed towards the three redemptions, one’s Divine service is unbounded and therefore beyond division. Without the limits and boundaries which delineate and divide, one attains perfection in all of the three modes.
“The Avodas Hashem of a Jew must have three components: 1) The Jew who is serving, 2) Hashem Who is being served, and 3) the world which is being worked on and transformed into a dwelling place for Hashem. The only way to bring Moshiach is to remember that in addition to a person’s personal work of Davening and learning, he must change this physical world (Acharei Mos-K’doshim 5751).”
Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim on Inyanei Geula u’Moshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com.