Every year on Motzei Shabbat Parshat Mishpatim, a melava malka was held in support of the Crown Heights gamach. The custom developed that during the Rebbe's Shabbat farbrengen the head of that gamach would don a shtreiml, and before inviting all those present to the gathering, he would tell a story.
One year the gabbai Reb Shimon Goldman related a story about a chassid of Reb Nochum of Tchernobyl, who would always host the tzaddik when he visited his town.
On one visit, the tzaddik sent him a message that he must bring him two thousand rubles, otherwise he would not stay at his home, and the chassid would even be forbidden to visit the Rebbe or participate in his prayer services. The chassid had no way of collecting such a sum, and so, to his terrible dismay, he was unable to see his Rebbe throughout his entire stay in his town.
A short while later a miracle occurred to him, and he received two thousand rubles. When he presented it to the Rebbe he was told to keep it, and the Rebbe added, "you were destined to be wealthy. However, the only way you could receive it was if you would plead for it. That is why I caused you pain."
The Rebbe questioned the viability of this story: Would Reb Nochum Tchernobyler cause his chassid to endure such suffering for such a long time?! Even a coarse person would experience unbearable pain watching everyone going to hear the tzaddik's davening while he is forced to remain outside!
It must be, concluded the Rebbe, that the chassid was merely held back from joining one prayer service, and shortly afterwards the tzaddik returned to stay at his home. This pain was surely enough to arouse the chassid to daven to Hashem for the wealth.
The Rebbe then added, "it should not come as a surprise that a story could become so mistaken. We often see how when a story is transmitted from one person to another, each narrator tries to embellish it, at times at the cost of ruining it all ..."
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