After Rebbe Reb Shmelke’s passing, the Apta Rav went to comfort his widow and hear any wondrous tales she would relate about her husband, olov hasholom.
The widow told him how once in the middle of his nightly learning session his candle burned low and went out. In distress, he walked out to seek a candle, forgetting that he was on the second floor. He stepped out onto the balcony, saw a person holding a candle coming toward him, thanked the stranger profusely, and entered, rekindling his light with the new candle and...it was then that he was struck midstride by the following realization: he was on the second floor! Who could have come toward him from the ground level, and who could have handed him a candle? It must have been Eliyohu HaNovi, was his conclusion, and the mere thought that he had burdened and troubled Eliyohu HaNovi to bring him, the lowly Reb Shmelke, a candle! The thought troubled and bothered him to the point of tears, distress and despondency. He never realized how much in Shomayim they must have valued his Torah study to send Eliyohu. His humility was so great, all he thought was how he must have burdened the prophet!
(Yehi Ohr p. 253–256 300, 301, 303, 305)
