When we bentsch after eating,
for some 3 times a day,
and others maybe less
365 days a year,
over thousands of years:
Our first Bracha is for the nourishment,
the second is for OUR Land,
the third is for Jerusalem,
the fourth is for G-d's Goodness,
then we have a series of situations upon which we ask HaShem to shower His mercy upon us.
We need the nourishment, from Our Land, to build Yerushalayim (the Temple), in order to bring G-d's Goodness to the world.
In the third Bracha, for Yerushalayim, we ask for mercy on "Your city" "on Zion" and then on "Moshiach" (the house of David), which some say: We need to build Yerushalayim, build Zion (Har HaBayit) and then Moshiach will come.
This last sentence I heard from a Rebbetzin that lives in the heart of the Moslem quarter in the Old City, surrounded by Arab families, and is her raison d'etre for living where she and her family live, in their effort to BUILD Yerushalayim and Zion.
The Bracha for OUR Land comes before Yerushalayim and Moshiach. So, I would venture that perhaps this means we need to rebuild the Temple so that Moshiach can come?
The Artscroll siddur Kol Yaakov (p. 188), in its footnote to the Bracha of Yerushalayim, says in part, that after the "destruction" and exile, the blessing was changed to embody a prayer for the return of the Land, the Temple and then the Davidic dynasty. (Not that Artscroll is the definitive answer, but the text does read that way.)
2 comments:
Neshama, allow me to correct you. You say,
"... perhaps this means we need to rebuild the Temple so that Moshiach can come?"
The job of building the 3rd Temple is the responsibilty of Moshiach. In fact, it's one of the two signs Maimonides provides as identification criteria to identify the real Moshiach. We ALL will have our hand in the building, but we must wait until we get the go-ahead from Moshiach, the way I understand Maimonides.
The quickest way to accelerate the Era of Redemption is to learn about that period and learn about Moshiach. The Rebbe said this, not I. The Rebbe has an enormous amount of literature on this topic. And of course by doing good deeds and acts of kindness.
Thank you for your comment. I'm very familiar with what you say about The Rebbe, having spent time in Crown Heights, in "line" and at many of 770 shiurim.
But as you allude to in your post, sometimes the facts on the ground alter the reality. Maybe the Anshe Knesses haGedola knew more!
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