Blessing After Meals

Practical Judaism → Blessing After Meals

• Already from early childhood, we educate children to say the blessing after meals, in a way that they understand with their minds that we need to bless and thank G-d for our food.
• The blessing after meals includes four blessings: about the nourishment, the Land of Israel, the building of Jerusalem and G-d’s goodness. In the blessing about the Land of Israel, we mention the covenant of circumcision, in the merit of which G-d gave the Land to Avraham and the Jewish People. It represents bringing holiness into the world, including making everywhere holy like the Land of Israel.
• In the blessing about the building of Jerusalem we mention the kingship of the Davidic dynasty (culminating with Moshiach).
• On Shabbos we add extra prayers for the Redemption through Moshiach; Shabbos has a special connection to it.
• We need the Redemption in order to fully fulfill the commandment ‘and you shall eat, and you shall be satisfied, and you shall bless” – even after eating a meal, we are still hungry for the feast of the Redemption!

(See talk of the Lubavitcher Rebbe King Moshiach Shlita, Vayeira 5752 (1991))

The rewards that we will receive in the Redemption through Moshiach result directly from our actions now. In general, every reward for every Mitzvah is similar to that Mitzvah. For example, giving Tzedakah is rewarded with wealth. “Aser Bishvil Shetis’asher” – “Tithe so you will become rich”; the words for tithes and wealth have a similar root. We will receive the ultimate reward in the era of Resurrection. So we should have something like resurrection in our G-dly service now in order to merit that.