“Look at three things and you won’t come to the hands of sin.” (Pirkei Avos (Ethics of the Fathers) chapter 3, Mishnah 1 – which we learn this week.)
The Redemption through Moshiach is the third Redemption, with the third Beis Hamikdash. By learning Torah sources about the third Redemption and third Beis Hamikdash and looking into it deeply – “look at three things” – we bring perfection into our G-dly service, which includes the three pillars of Torah, service (sacrifices/prayer) and acts of kindness, which we do with the three “soul garments” of thought, speech and action. We do it all in an unlimited way, transcending the division into three and also including all three.
It also keeps us away from sin automatically, without needing to be occupied in negating the bad. We won’t even “come to the hands of sin”. Even things that can lead to sin, like desire for physical pleasures (even permitted ones) become automatically negated when we focus on the Redemption. The Rambam says that in the Redemption “all delicacies will be available like dust”. Dust has no importance, and similarly physical desires become insignificant to us like dust. For in the Redemption, “the whole world will be occupied with nothing other than knowing G-d alone”.
(See talk of the Lubavitcher Rebbe King Moshiach Shlita, Va’eschanan 5751 (1991))
