The Alter Rebbe: Mashiach Won’t Be a Chabadnik!

The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Sicha of Simchas Beis HaShoeiva 5712:

“When the Alter Rebbe went out of prison, he was inadvertently brought to the dwelling of a ‘Veltlicher (worldly – non-Chassidic) Jew,’ where he was delayed for three hours. After a lengthy exchange with this Jew, the Alter Rebbe was compelled to promise him that he would debate his philosophy with three Veltlicher Jewish leaders.

“When the Alter Rebbe was by one of these Gedolim, the discussion turned to the question of from what group Moshiach would be, Chassidic or Veltlicher, and the Alter Rebbe answered – ‘Moshiach will be a Veltlicher. Why? Because if he will be a Chossid the Veltlicher Jews will not want to go out of exile, but if he will be a Veltlicher, the Chassidim, who are kabolas-olniks, will anyway automatically accept him, since for them the main thing is to go out of exile.”