Rabbi Leibel Groner relates, "One Shabbos, there was an unexpected farbrengen. The next day, Sunday, when I went into the Rebbe after Mincha, the Rebbe asked me about a particular bochur. 'I didn't see him yesterday at the farbrengen,' observed the Rebbe. I replied that on Friday morning, the bochur had asked me if I knew whether there was going to be a farbrengen on Shabbos. I replied that one had not been specifically planned. The bochur then said that since he lived out of town and his mother had not seen him for several months, he wanted to use the opportunity to go back home, and on Sunday he would fly back to New York and continue with his studies. And this is indeed what he did.

"The Rebbe then said, 'Although he had very good reasons for it, in actual fact he still missed a farbrengen, and he needs to take care not to miss farbrengens.' I then answered, "If so, [in future] should I tell the bochur that even when a farbrengen is not planned and I have no advance notice, he should still not spend Shabbos away from 770?'

"The Rebbe answered, 'No, don't tell him that. He will think that this has come from me, and he will be upset just because I am so bothered that he was not at the farbrengen, and I don't want him to be upset because of me''"

Translated from the Kfar Chabad Magazine