The Candles in the Silver Box

At his bar mitzvah, after a wondrous derasha filled with his own chiddushim, the Kesav Sofer received the customary derasha gifts. One of them was a singular silver box from the scholar Rav Ber Frank. When the bachur opened it, he found wax candles. Puzzled, he asked the rav why he had given so strange a gift.

"My child, these are your candles," the rav said. "They are the very candles that the Chevra Kadisha prepared for your untimely passing all those years ago, and now they are yours. The 'ner' (candle) has become 'ron' (joy). From candles for the dead they have become a song of simchah and light (נר רן). The song of the morning star will be your melody, as your candle shines forth like the morning light. You will merit to illuminate the entire world like the noontime sun at its zenith."

The candles were kept in the family for years and passed down from generation to generation.