In the midst of all the storms that are raging over us every morning, Rosh Chodesh Kislev has quietly arrived and fell on Sunday and Monday.
"It was in the fifth year of Yehoyakim son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehuda, in the ninth month [Kislev], when all the people in Jerusalem claimed a fast before the Lord" (Yirmiyahu 36:9); an ancient tradition brought in the sermons of the Chatam Sofer states that "this is Rosh Chodesh Kislev and it is a day of forgiveness just like Yom Kippur". Rosh Chodesh Kislev is a day of atonement because it falls forty days after Hoshana Rabbah (the day of the sealing of the judgment of the High Holy Days); a kind of last chance after the last chance to repent, while we are already in the midst of the routine of the year.
This week we are in the midst of the shiva of a great young Torah scholar, Rabbi Aharon Ankri zts"l, the rabbi of the Nof Harim neighborhood in Eli, father of nine, who was killed in a car accident last Wednesday at the Maale Levona junction in the Shomron. Many who read this did not know him in his lifetime, and will now not get to know about him even after his death, but he is the example of a "quiet Yom Kippur". A quiet Torah that permeates the houses of study upon which the people of Israel depend.
Rabbi Ankri zts"l, was a partner in the Heroism Forum activities from the day of its establishment, was very active, and greatly assisted the Forum. 'May his soul be bound in the bond of life' – and 'may the Lord wipe away tears from the faces' of his loved ones.
Rabbi Ankri is not alone; with him in heaven stand his brother-in-law, Yedidya Eliyahu the fighter, the three other fallen soldiers from his neighborhood, and the hundreds of holy silent martyrs we lost this year. They stand on the first day of the month of Kislev – a quiet and continuous Yom Kippur – preparing for us the candles of the menorah that we will soon light on Hanukkah.
Arutz Sheva's Hebrew site posted a campaign to help the family.
Chodesh tov. Have a good month.