The rabbis teach that if you recite the Ashrei prayer three times a day, you are guaranteed a place in the world to come. A statement that raises all sorts of questions. First of all, what is so special about the Ashrei? Second, what are the three opportunities to recite the prayer? Third, what is the world to come? And fourth, how would prayer recitation—any prayer recitation—get us there?
Ashrei is special because it is so tightly constructed. The opening word (Ashrei) is the first word of the entire book of Psalms. The last word (halleluyah) is the last word of the entire book of Psalms. And the introduction to the core of the prayer is the one time in the book of Psalms (tehillim) that a psalm actually begins with the word “psalm” (tehillah).
In addition, Ashrei is an alphabetical acrostic (the first line begins with aleph, the second with bet, etc.) symbolically covering all bases in its praise of G-d. And, crucially, it contains the line “You open your hand, and satisfy every living thing.” This principle was taken by the rabbis to be especially significant—so significant in fact that there are some who say that if this line is recited without mindful concentration, it must be repeated.
Because of this deep significance, the rabbis incorporated the Ashrei into the morning service not once but twice. And it introduces the afternoon minchah service. Hence, three recitations daily.
But what has this to do with the world to come, and how does the prayer get us there? The rabbis are all over the place when describing the world to come. Some liken it to heaven in the afterlife, while others link it to the messianic era. Ultimately, though, in either case, what the rabbis were trying to express is a state in which there is complete consciousness of the Divine Presence. Which brings us back to that essential line, “You open your hand, and satisfy every living thing.” Imagine for a moment what it would feel like to fully and unreservedly embrace that awareness—not as an abstract principle but as a lived reality. Imagine sensing the hand of G-d opening, imagine receiving from it all you needed to satisfy yourself, imagine knowing that every living thing had done so as well ( so no poverty, no suffering, anywhere).
Now is that paradise, or what?