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Source: Candle Before Being Extinguished
Rav Yakov Zev asks:
People say that shortly before a person is Niftar, they can look even more
serene and alert than during the previous days - like a candle burning
brighter before it extinguishes.
Do you know of any source for this, regarding a person or a candle?
Thanks, Yakov Zev
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The Kollel replies:
1) Of course, the person's soul is compared very often to a candle.
Possibly the main source is Mishlei 20:27: "The candle of Hashem is a man's
soul."
2) More specifically, referring to the Petirah, the Gemara in Shabbos 151b
states "Mashal l'Ner" -- the Neshamah is compared to a candle in its final
moments. (The Gemara there says that for this reason one is not allowed to
close the eyes of the Goses since this is considered as bloodshed. If one
places one's finger on a candle which is dying down, it will extinguish
immediately. Similarly closing the eyes of a dying person will hasten his
death.)
3) We find in a few places in Chazal that when a Tzadik passes away, the
souls of Tzadikim who are already in Gan Eden come to meet him. See
Berachos 28b where we are told that when Raban Yochanan ben Zakai was in
his last moments, he told his disciples to prepare a chair for King
Chizkiyah who was coming to meet him. See also Bava Metzia 62b, where Rava
said that when he would die, Rav Oshaya would come to meet him. Clearly,
the fact that these great Tzadikim come to greet the Niftar causes them to
become more serene.
4) There is also a Halachic ramification of the above. See Teshuvos Shraga
ha'Meir 5:11:3 (of Rav Schneibalg zt'l) who writes that before the Neshamah
departs from the body it becomes stronger in the same way that a candle
burns stronger before it goes out. He therefore writes that a memorial
light should not be electric, because electricity does not possess this
property.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom
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