Tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews gathered in Jerusalem on Monday, November 9, to mark Sigd (ስግድ), the main holiday of the Beta Israel community, Israel Today reported. Worshippers dressed in white filled the Armon Hanatziv Promenade, which looks out over the Old City. Kessim, the religious leaders of the community, led the prayers under bright ceremonial umbrellas. The day of fasting ended in the afternoon.
A Holiday of Prayer and Fasting
Sigd falls on the 29th day of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, 50 days after Yom Kippur. This year that date was Monday, according to the Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center, which listed the main prayer gathering at the promenade. The name comes from Ge’ez and means bowing low in worship.
In Ethiopia, Jews climbed a mountain on this day, fasted and prayed for a return to Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Post reported. Shoshana Ben-Dor, who has studied Sigd since the 1980s, told the paper that the central meaning of the day is the renewal of the covenant between the Jewish people and God.
The kessim read passages from Exodus, Deuteronomy and Nehemiah in Ge’ez, the old language of worship of Ethiopian Jews. Ben-Dor said many people at the prayers no longer understand that language.
Scenes on the Promenade
On the bus to the promenade, some passengers spoke Hebrew and others spoke Amharic, the Post wrote. At the prayers, women raised their hands toward the sky, and some people bowed to the ground. A high, ringing cry called ililta rose above the prayers from time to time.
Older immigrants stood with younger people who were born in Israel, Israel Today reported. “Sigd is not just a holiday for Ethiopians, but a holiday for the entire Jewish people,” one participant told the Israeli news channel Channel 14, according to JNS, the Jewish News Syndicate. Volunteers handed out flowers at the gathering.
Israel made Sigd a national holiday in 2008. Nearly two decades later, it is still mostly a celebration of the Ethiopian Jewish community, the Post noted.
Prayers at the Western Wall
Hundreds of community members also prayed at the Western Wall on Monday, Israel Today reported. A copy of the Orit, the holy scriptures of Ethiopian Jews, was brought from the National Library of Israel for the reading.
During the main ceremony, the kessim raised a large poster of Haymanot Kasau. She was nine years old when she went missing in Safed in February 2024, and she has not been found. Many people at the promenade, especially teenagers and children, wore stickers with her photo, the Post reported.
About 180,000 people of Ethiopian origin live in Israel, according to Israel Today. In May 1991, during Operation Solomon, Israel brought about 14,500 Ethiopian Jews from Ethiopia in less than two days.
Sigd joins other autumn holidays marked by Ethiopians at home and abroad, including the Ethiopian New Year and Meskel.
