What blessings do I make when greeting Mashiach?
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יקוק, אֱלֹקֵֽינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָֽינוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה.
Blessed are You... Who kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this moment.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יקוק אֱלֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַטּוֹב וְהַמֵּטִיב.
Blessed are You... Who is good and does good.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יקוק אֱלֺקֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם... גּוֹאֵל יִשְׂרָאֵל.
Blessed are You... Redeemer of Israel.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יקוק אֱלֺקֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם... מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים.
Blessed are You... Who revives the dead.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יקוק אֱלֺקֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם... שֶׁנָּתַן מִכְּבוֹדוֹ לִירֵאָיו.
Blessed are You... Who gave of His glory to those who fear Him.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יקוק אֱלֺקֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם... שֶׁחָלַק מֵחׇכְמָתוֹ לִירֵאָיו.
Blessed are You... Who has apportioned of His knowledge to those who fear Him.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יקוק אֱלֺקֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם... חֲכַם הָרָזִים.
Blessed are You... the Knower of Secrets.
Excerpted from Make Your Berachos Meaningful by Rabbi Mechel Handler, pages 351 - 352
As an American, how does Mashiach benefit me?
(א) אין בין העוה"ז לימות המשיח אלא שעבוד מלכיות בלבד ויהיו בימיו עשירים ואביונים גבורים וחלשים כנגד זולתם אבל באותם הימים יהיה נקל מאד על בני האדם למצוא מחייתם עד שבעמל מעט שיעמול אדם יגיע לתועלת גדול...
(1) All Jews have a share in the world to come: ..."There is no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah except for the subjugation by the nations alone." And there will be in his days rich and poor, strong and weak, in relation to each other. But it will be very easy in those days for people to find their sustenance; to the point that with a little effort that a person exerts, a great output will result...
Why will it be much easier for people to earn a livelihood?
The curse will be removed from upon mankind:
(יט) בְּזֵעַ֤ת אַפֶּ֙יךָ֙ תֹּ֣אכַל לֶ֔חֶם עַ֤ד שֽׁוּבְךָ֙ אֶל־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כִּ֥י מִמֶּ֖נָּה לֻקָּ֑חְתָּ כִּֽי־עָפָ֣ר אַ֔תָּה וְאֶל־עָפָ֖ר תָּשֽׁוּב׃
We will still have to put in some effort to succeed:
(ב) אם עשה הרי הוא מתברך ואם לאו אינו מתברך...
If you have done something, then it will be blessed; if not, it will not be blessed...
The reason we will still have an interest in having a livelihood is spelled out in the Talmud:
שהבטלה מביאה לידי שיעמום:
Idleness leads to idiocy.
The good news is that our life won’t be one big rush of getting up early to daven, going home afterward to eat breakfast and then zooming off to work. We will have more time to amass in learning Torah, as our livelihood will not be a means to an end anymore.
What this means in the 21st century, is that on Motzei Shabbos these people will clean your dishes. On Sunday and throughout the week, they’ll be doing your laundry or other errands that you need to be done. Besides the prophet prophesying this, why on earth would strangers or gentiles have a remote interest in taking care of all of our needs?
(23) Thus said the LORD of Hosts: In those days, ten men from nations of every tongue will take hold—they will take hold of every Jew by a corner of his cloak and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”
The Radak says that at the dawn of redemption, all the nations will realize that we indeed are the cornerstone of the world – they understand who we are and what we represent. This is not slavery like in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. They desire to serve us as we would desire to serve a Talmid Chacham if we would be offered the opportunity.
Here are the parting words of Rabbi Gavriel Friedman:
By following these guidelines may we merit to be among the “Exile Survivors” that witness Mashiach’s revelation - who will erect for us the Beis HaMikdash and lead us straight to our Land, very soon!
Dedicated in memory of:
- Velvel Volf Zev ben Aharon - sanctified G-d's Name amongst Jews and non-Jews.
- Shimshon ben Meshulam Dov - exemplified living with happiness and did the same to others despite the challenges he was going through in his own life.
- HaRav Zechariah Shimon ben Yitzchak HaKohein - gave of himself both physically and spiritually on behalf of the Jewish People.
- Bryna Bracha bas Aryeh Yaakov - was a 🌟 in relationships with people and our Creator.
- Rav Meir Yaakov ben HaRav Aharon - revolutionized the transmission of the Written and Oral Torah on behalf of the Jewish People.
- Rav Yisrael Meir ben R’ Aryeh Zev HaKohein, Menachem Mendel ben Levi Yitzchak, Elchonon Bunem ben Naftali Beinish Hy”d.
- Reva Leah bas Dovid Yehoshua, Eliezer Moshe ben Avraham, Kayla Rus bas Bunim Tuvia, Rabbi Uri Zohar, Shmuel Aharon ben Nasan Nattah and Ezra Yonatan ben Gary.