Rabbi Menachem Nochum of Chernobyl and his family lived in dire poverty. One day, a chasid who came to have an audience with this great Rebbe, brought him a gift of three hundred bank-note rubles.
The Rebbe's assistant and family were delighted at the gift; at long last they would be able to pay off some of the immense debts.
Another twenty or thirty chasidim entered the Rebbe's room after this generous chasid left. Reb Nochum locked himself in his room after the evening prayers. Some time later, he opened the door and asked to see one of the chasidim who had had an audience earlier.
Finally, when all visitors had left, the assistant came in to ask for money to pay the household expenses. Knowing of the three hundred rubles, he was sure that he would be able to pay off some of the outstanding debts.
Rabbi Nochum kept one drawer for money that was donated towards the upkeep of his family and a separate drawer for donations to charity that people gave when they asked the Rebbe to pray for them. The Rebbe opened up the first drawer, and the assistant was amazed to see that there were no bank notes in the drawer at all-only a few coins! Rabbi Nochum gave him all the coins, including three golden coins he found underneath. Yet, there was less than one hundred bank note rubles!
The Rebbe noticed the distress in the assistant's face and asked, "Why are you so sad? The Almighty, who provides sustenance to all living creatures has been so kind to us; many of our Jewish brothers from various places have labored and toiled, and have brought us all this money." The assistant could contain himself no longer. The heavy debts and the terrible poverty rampant in Rabbi Nochum's house seared his heart. Almost as if by themselves the words tumbled from his lips. "But where are the 300 rubles? With that money we could pay at least part of the debts!"
Rabbi Menachem Nochum replied: "When I first received to 300 rubles, I wondered, why I deserved such a large sum. Then I became happy, thinking I had found favor in G-d's eyes. However, as I began to think more deeply about it, it occurred to me that perhaps this material affluence would be in place of some spiritual affluence.
"Among the chasidim who came to see me today was one who poured out his heart to me. He had not paid tuition for his children for almost a year. In addition, he owed eight months rent and would be evicted if he did not pay. And, his oldest daughter had become engaged and he no money with which to make the wedding.
"When I heard all these woes it occurred to me that perhaps G-d had given me the merit to be in charge of distributing charity, and that the large sum was given to me to participate in these three great mitzvot - Torah-study, saving a family from eviction, and dowering a bride. I asked the chasid how much all his debts came to, including the cost of the wedding, and I saw that the sum was indeed exactly the same - 300 rubles! No sooner had I decided to give the whole sum to the chasid, than the thought came to mind: Is it right to give such a large sum to one individual? Six families could live on this money; would it not be fairer to divide it amongst them?!
"Then I had the idea, to divide the money amongst six families, one of those families being my own. Now, which thought was correct? I decided that if the second thought had been the correct one, it would have come to me immediately. But, since it came later, it was the advice of my Evil inclination.
"So I took the advice of the Good Inclination; I sent for the chasid and gave him the 300 rubles."
