This is from Sichos In English; Many people use the event of chassidim singing Chaeiley Adonenu Moshiach Zidkeinu to prove that the Rebbe did not want us to identify him as the Moshiach. This beautiful analysis shows that quite the opposite is rally true.
What is the Rebbe's position on identifying him as
Moshiach?
Rabbi Even Yisroel on p. 197-98 cites
a farbrengen from 1991 when the
chassidim sang a song identifying the Rebbe as Moshiach, to support his
assertion that the Rebbe 'tried to quash all speculation' about his 'Messianic
role.' The author writes that the Rebbe
“stopped them quickly and said 'I cannot leave here now, but after hearing such
a claim I should leave this room as a protest.'” (It should be noted that the word ‘protest’
as translated by the author does not appear in the original Yiddish and is an
error.) The author neglected to mention that at a 1984 farbrengen when a
similar song was song, the Rebbe said that the focus on the identify of
Moshiach detracts from the work of bringing Moshiach. To understand the error
of Rabbi Even Yisroel, it is necessary to explore these 2 farbrengens. The 1991 sicha was completely different than
the one in 1984. In 1984, the Rebbe was screaming that the publicizing of the
Rebbe as Moshiach goes against and stands in the way of spreading Chassidus and
pushes people away. He spoke with a lot
of pain and harshness. Conversely, in
the sicha of 1991, the Rebbe did not utter one word in that vein. In fact, the
Rebbe was smiling and spoke just a few words in a quiet voice when he said 'you sing this song with these words while I
sit here by the table. . . I should have walked out. But I won't.
. ' There are 2 reasons which were given by the Rebbe which were left out of the book. The first reason is
that 'it is not going to help anyway. The Chassidim are going to continue
saying what they are saying.' The Rebbe smiled when he said that.
Unlike in 1984, there was no anger or talk about destruction. And the second reason the Rebbe
gives is 'I don't want to disturb the sheves achim gam yachad.' It is a
farbrengen, there is unity among chassidim. He didn't want to do anything that
is going to disturb that unity. The book did not point out that he most
certainly did not say it is wrong, terrible, or destructive to identify
the Rebbe as Moshiach. There was not one word of that nature. All he said is he
should have walked out. Because if he is remaining to sit at a public
farbrengen while a song identifies him as Moshiach, he is publicly admitting he agrees with its
content. At that time, the Rebbe did not publicly acknowledge this. In other
words, it wasn't the time yet for the Rebbe to be publicly acknowledge this.
