AS LONG AS THE CANDLE REMAINS ALIGHT

             It is told that above the modest apartment of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev lived a shoemaker. Late one night, when Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was about to close his Talmud and sleep, he could hear his neighbor still at work, humming and hammering. The sage walked upstairs: "Aren't you tired? It's past midnight, and we must be at morning services in a little less than six hours."

"Yes," said the shoemaker, as he pointed to the candlelight by which he was working. "But as long as the candle remains alight, there is still time to mend."

Rabbi Levi Yitzhak began to weep. "How truly do you teach, my master," he said to the shoemaker. "As long as the candle of our soul remains alight with life, there is still time for each of us to mend ourselves, and the world…"

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