SIGD

Passport to Peoplehood Jews are a multicultural people who live around the world.

Big Ideas

1. Sigd is a unique Ethiopian Jewish holiday.

2. Sigd celebrates the connection of the Jewish people to God and the desire for the return to .

3. The celebration of Sigd has been transformed by the mass aliyah of Beta to the modern State of Israel.

Sigd Slideshow

Slide 1: Introduction: What Is Sigd? Sigd is a Jewish holiday that is celebrated 50 days after , in late fall. Today, it serves as a celebration of the arrival of Ethiopian Jews in Israel. However, before Ethiopian Jews emigrated to Israel, Sigd was the time when they expressed their desire to one day live there.

Slide 2: History of Sigd Until modern times, Ethiopian Jews, who are also called the , were not connected to other Jewish communities around the world. They were often isolated from their Christian and Muslim neighbors, and sometimes faced discrimination and oppression. The Beta Israel celebrated Sigd to unify their community during difficult times. For one day, everyone came together to remember their dream of someday returning to the holy city of Jerusalem.

Slide 3: Getting Ready for Sigd In Ethiopia, the Beta Israel celebrated most at home or in their village. Sigd was so important that it was a pilgrimage holiday, meaning that Beta Israel traveled from all over the region to celebrate it together as a people. They gathered in the Jewish village of Ambover, which was near the region’s highest mountains. The night before Sigd, they said special prayers. They also prepared food to get ready for the special feast that takes place when Sigd’s fast is over.

Slide 4: Climbing the Mountain Sigd began when the gathered community started to climb the high mountain. Everyone climbed, even children. Just as Moses went up Mount Sinai to directly receive the Ten Commandments, the Beta Israel climbed to celebrate their connection with God in a holy place.

Slide 5: Umbrellas In Ethiopian culture, beautiful umbrellas were used to shelter important people, like emperors and public officials, from the sun. This made it very clear that these people were worthy of great respect. So the priests of the Beta Israel, called the kessim, carried large, colorful ​ ​ umbrellas to protect the themselves as they ascended the mountain. This showed the respect the Beta Israel had for the Torah as well as the kessim.

Slide 6: Praying for a Jewish Home At the top of the mountain, the kessim, still sheltered by umbrellas, read their Torah, which ​ ​ they call the Orit. Their Torah was not written in Hebrew, but in a language called Ge’ez. They ​ ​ read prayers that celebrated the hope that they would one day return to Jerusalem.

Slide 7: Sigd Means “To Prostrate” Sigd was also a time when the community prayed for forgiveness from God for any wrongs they had committed in the past year. When they prayed, they prostrated themselves on the ground to show their humility before God. In Amharic, the everyday language Ethiopian Jews used, Sigd means “to prostrate”. That’s where the name of the holiday comes from.

Slide 8: Blowing The Shofar After the community had prostrated themselves, the kessim blew the shofar, and the people recited a special prayer: “Just as we have merited celebrating the holiday this year, so may we merit celebrating it next year in Jerusalem.”

Slide 9: Feast After this, it was time to come down from the mountain and celebrate! Traditionally, to break the fast, they might eat traditional Ethiopian foods like injera, a flat bread, and wat, which is a thick stew. And Sigd would not be complete without dancing and singing.

Slide 10: Coming to Israel Over time, the Beta Israel had more and more contact with Jews around the world. When famine and civil war came to Ethiopia, the Beta Israel made the decision to flee to a neighboring country, Sudan, hoping to make their way to Israel. With Israel’s help, thousands of Ethiopian Jews secretly flew to Israel from Sudan. The promise of Sigd was fulfilled.

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Slide 11: Sigd In Jerusalem Now that most Beta Israel now live in Israel, Sigd is different but equally special. Sigd is still a pilgrimage holiday, but, now, instead of traveling to the highest mountain, many Ethiopian Jews gather in Jerusalem on the Armon Hanatziv Promenade, which is high enough to show views of ​ Old Jerusalem. The kessim still stand under the colorful umbrellas that continue to be a sign of respect.

Slide 12: Sigd in Israel It’s very special to be able to celebrate Sigd in Israel after thousands of years of prayer. When the Beta Israel arrived, Sigd was unknown by the general Israeli population. However, in 2008, Sigd was made a national holiday. This gives the opportunity for all Jews in Israel to learn about and celebrate Sigd.

Slide 13: Sigdiyada Sigdiyada, a festival created by Ethiopian Jews in Israel, is a new way that Israelis are learning about Sigd. Its goal is to celebrate Ethiopian Israeli arts, culture, and history with live music, art exhibits, and lots of Ethiopian food.

Slide 14: Teaching Young Ethiopian Jews By now, an entire generation of Ethiopians have never celebrated Sigd at the top of high mountains and did not make the difficult journey from Ethiopia to Jerusalem. They are Ethiopian Jews who were born in Israel and are Israeli citizens. Sigd and Sigdiyada offer them the opportunity to learn their community’s history and share their pride in who they are.

Slide 15: Time To Celebrate! One thing about Sigd hasn’t changed. Just as in Ethiopia, after the service, it’s time to eat, dance, and sing! With new traditions like Sigdiyada, Sigd becomes a celebration of the story of the Beta Israel and the many great things they brought to Israel when they made aliyah.

Slide 16: END .

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