How to get old entity value in @HandleBeforeSave event to determine if a property is changed or not?

If using Hibernate, you could simply detach the new version from the session and load the old version:

@RepositoryEventHandler 
@Component
public class PersonEventHandler {

  @PersistenceContext
  private EntityManager entityManager;

  @HandleBeforeSave
  public void handlePersonSave(Person newPerson) {
      entityManager.detach(newPerson);
      Person currentPerson = personRepository.findOne(newPerson.getId());
      if (!newPerson.getName().equals(currentPerson.getName)) {
          //react on name change
      }
   }
}