Didn’t the Alter Rebbe say Moshiach Will be a “misnaged”?

By Rabbi Noam Wagner

QUESTION >

How can we say that the Rebbe is Moshiach if the Alter Rebbe said that Moshiach would be a Misnaged?

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Answer >

I want to preface my answer to this question with a disclaimer: when it comes to explaining what the Alter Rebbe said or meant, I can do my best to explain using related sources and information, but it is only my interpretation and explanation, and others likewise have the right to explain it differently.

But first let’s get the story straight:

There are a few reliable sources for the story, but we will go with the most reliable version, as was related by the Rebbe at a Simchas Beis Hashoeiva farbrengen in 5712 (1951):

When the Alter Rebbe was released from prison on Yud-Tes Kislev, he was for some reason brought to the house of an “oilamisher” — a non-Chassid. He spent three hours there, and after a long discussion they had, he made the Alter Rebbe promise that he will meet with three of the non-Chassidic Gedolim and debate with them.

One of these rabbis that the Alter Rebbe met with asked him whether Moshiach would be a Chassid or oilamisher? To which the Alter Rebbe answered “Moshiach will be an oilamisher” — an expression meaning a “worldly” mainstream figure. Not with an identity belonging to any specific group.

And he continued to explain: “If Moshiach comes and he’s a Chassid, then the oilamisher will not want to come out of galus, but if Moshiach came as an oilamisher, the Chassidim — being kabbolas-oil’nikes — will be prepared to go out of galus no matter what.”

[In a reshima of the Rebbe, where he quotes the story as he heard it from the Frierdiker Rebbe, the term Misnaged is used, and the Alter Rebbe then with a seemingly sharp line: “the Chassidim will believe because they are believers…]

What does it mean that Moshiach will be an oilamisher? What does it mean that the Misnagdim would not follow Moshiach if he were a Chassid? And what does the Alter Rebbe mean “Chassidim are believers”?

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One of the main false complaints that the misnagdim had against the Chassidim at the time was that they had similar beliefs to the early followers of Shabsai Tzvi shr”y (the false Moshiach that brought untold suffering and hardship to the Jewish people).

What fueled these false accusations was the fact that the Baal Shem Tov, and later the Alter Rebbe openly taught about Kabbalah and Chassidus — emphasizing the importance of spreading these ideas to hasten Moshiach’s arrival.

The Chassidim also made no secret of the fact that they believed their Rebbe was Moshiach, most Jews being extremely sensitive to the concept at the time.

(The talmidim of the Vilna Gaon also considered him to be a potential Moshiach, as recorded in Sefer Kol Hator, but the common-folk was uneasy with such ideas; for them, it was a big issue.)

So perhaps the question of this rabbi, “Will Moshiach be a Chassid or Misnaged” may be something deeper: “Are the Chassidim trying to claim Moshiach exclusively as their own? Are the Chassidim saying that Moshiach will not be someone that the Misnaged can understand — someone the Misnaged can follow as a non-Chassid? Is Moshiach not someone that would be great in the world of the Misnagdim as well?

The Midrash tells us about Esther HaMalka, that her origin was kept unknown, which allowed every nation to take pride in her and claim her as their own. We may say that so will it be with Moshiach — all people will feel a personal connection with him, see him as their own leader, as someone hailing from their own background. To every Jew, no matter his background, Moshiach will be “one of ours.”

Moshiach is the Neshama Klalis, the general soul which encompasses all Jewish souls. He reveals the G-dly spark — the Yechida within each and every one of us. Moshiach must be able to connect to every single Jew around the world in order to reveal that spark. And by revealing it, the person himself will feel his powerful and deep connection with Hashem.

So when the people see Moshiach, they will see the G-dly spark revealed in themselves, they will see Moshiach literally as part of themselves. As part of the same G-dly energy.

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So perhaps the Alter Rebbe is “assuring” the Misnaged: “Moshiach will be an oilamisher.” “Don’t worry, he will be someone that even the Misnaged can relate to in his way. He will see Moshiach’s greatness in Torah, his chiddushim and lomdus; he will see how great a tzaddik Moshiach is, but he will still feel that Moshiach is in his realm. And for the Misnaged, that is what allows him to follow Moshiach.

 [Interestingly, at the farbrengen in which the Rebbe related the story, were present many non-Chassidic yeshiva bachurim, and the Rebbe used this anecdote as an introduction to a sicha in which he expounded on the sources from Nigleh to the Chassidishe interpretation of Nisuch Hamayim.

It is also worthwhile to note, that when the Rebbe began his leadership, some elder Chassidim found it hard to adjust to a Rebbe who can speak for hours at a Shabbos farbrengen on topics in Nigleh…

Obviously, the Rebbe didn’t leave it at that; in a typical Moshiach manner, he showed how the Nigleh topics are imbued with ideas of Chassidus and vice-versa, showing how the whole Torah is one, “organic” unit.]

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A Chassid, on the other hand, has no problem that Moshiach is an oilamisher, even a Misnaged…

What it means for a Chassid is that Moshiach has a connection with the whole world. This is not new to the Chassid. The Rebbe, by his very definition, is a Neshama Klalis which belongs to every Jew. For a Chassid, Moshiach does not need to be exclusively “his” Rebbe and doesn’t have to be a figure who must fit to what he is “looking for” in a Moshiach. The Chassid does not look at Moshiach as being in the same realm, he looks at Moshiach as something way beyond himself.

That may be what the the Alter Rebbe added by commenting that “Chassidim are believers.” Chassidim do not think about the connection Moshiach has with them. They believe in Moshiach because they believe in his mission which is to be an “olamisher” — someone whose purpose is to bring Elokus into the world – olam. They were taught what Moshiach is all about — the connection of all the G-dly sparks to Hashem’s unity. It does not matter what “other” connection they see themselves having with him, they know that Moshiach is about one thing; they just believe.

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So how can we say that the Rebbe is Moshiach if Moshiach will be an olamisher?

The olamisher of the non-Chassid — the connection people have with the Rebbe based on his gadlus in Torah or his greatness in other areas is limited to the extent that the person can rationalize. But a Chassid connects to his Rebbe through something much more powerful than that. The Chassid knows that the Rebbe is his Neshama Klalis and that they are one with Hashem in the same way, the ultimate connection.

So we Chassidim know that the Rebbe is an olamisher — the Rebbe is here to be the Nassi Hador, the Moshiach of the whole generation, of the whole world! Not just for the Chassidim but for everyone, so that through him the Elokus in the world is revealed. ■