As Long as the Candle Burns

It is told that one night Rav Yisrael was passing an elderly shoemaker's house. Though the hour was late, the man sat at his work by the glow of a candle that was nearly burnt down. Rav Yisrael asked why he kept working when the flame would soon die. The shoemaker said that for as long as the candle burned, repairs could still be done.

Rav Yisrael did not sleep that night. He paced his room in excitement, repeating the shoemaker's words again and again. The soul of a person is likened to a candle, as the pasuk says, "A man's soul is the lamp of Hashem" (Mishlei 20:27). From this simple craftsman he learned never to despair: while there is life there is time to repair the soul, to do teshuvah and to set right what is wrong.

Another version relates that this happened on Motzaei Shabbos, as Rav Yisrael was on his way to Selichos and his shoe tore, and that he hurried to shul and told the people what he had learned.