Today, it is my pleasure to share a guest post from my esteemed friend Shai Afsai, who has done excellent work covering the Ethiopian Jews and their unique heritage. As Passover rapidly approaches (did anyone really need to be reminded?), redemption is a theme on the minds of many. What follows is an article about the Ethopian Sigd holiday, commemorating a different redemption, the return to Zion from the Babylonian captivity. Shai Afsai and Matan Graff will be presenting photos of the Sigd by Gidon Agaza (mentioned in the article) at the Providence JCC Gallery, with the opening on Monday, March 18th, from 7:00 - 9:00 pm.
Celebrating the Sigd Holiday
Shai Afsai
“I arrived at the end,”
21-year-old Orly Sahalo said of attending the Sigd holiday in Jerusalem for the
first time last year, “and I missed out.”
This year, encouraged by her
boyfriend, photographer Gidon Agaza, she turned up early at the Armon Hanatziv
Promenade, where thousands of Ethiopian Jews gathered to celebrate the Sigd on
November 14th.
“I had chills. I came and saw all of the women dressed in
white, lifting their hands, and saw the qessotch [i.e., priests, who are the
traditional religious leaders of the Jews of Ethiopia] using musical
instruments, just as written in the Bible,” Sahalo said, referring to the drums
and trumpets that accompanied certain prayers.
Sahalo also prepared herself for
the occasion this time. “I did my
homework and attended events so that I could understand the holiday. I wanted to be able to answer questions about
the Sigd if people happened to ask me, and to know for myself what was
practiced in Ethiopia and what the source of the holiday is.”
One of the many educational and
cultural events leading up to the holiday in Israel took place at Ramat Gan’s
Bar-Ilan University, on the eve of the Sigd.
There, Mula Zerihoon, a 40-year-old qes ordained in Israel, explained
the origins of the holiday to the students and soldiers in the audience.
“The Sigd holiday is based on the
times of Ezra and Nehemiah, when after 70 years in exile, the Jews returned
from Babylon to the Land of Israel,” Qes Mula said. “In Jerusalem, they held a day of fasting,
repentance, Torah teaching, and prayer.
This is the source of the Sigd holiday of the Jews of Ethiopia.”
Chapter 9 of the Book of Nehemiah records that on the 24th of
Tishre “the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and
putting dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated
themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their
sins and the sins of their ancestors. They stood where they were and read from
the Book of the Torah of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent
another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.” That 6th century BCE assembly culminated
with the Jews publicly recommitting themselves to their covenant with God.
The annual Sigd celebration now
normally takes place 50 days after Yom Kippur, on the 29th of
Cheshvan. It begins with fasting and repentance, but concludes with a festive meal
following the Sigd’s annual renewal of the covenant.
Among the
Sigd’s central themes is the Jewish longing to return from the exile to
Jerusalem. In Ethiopia, the
Sigd was celebrated atop mountains, which were ascended by foot. “When we climbed the mountain, we felt
Jerusalem in our heart of hearts,” said Qes Mula. “This deeply impacted our Judaism. Jews came from afar, two or three days on
foot, on horses, and on mules, in order to have the chance to hear Torah from
the qessotch. The people learned and
were strengthened.” Often, worshipers
took home some soil from the mountain on which the holiday was celebrated.
Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv
Promenade, currently the primary pilgrimage site of the holiday, offers an
unobstructed view of Jerusalem’s Old City.
On the day of the Sigd, dozens of qessotch from across Israel assembled
there beneath colorful umbrellas, on a platform draped by the flags of Israel
and Jerusalem. Chanting in Ge’ez, the
qessotch praised God, and asked for forgiveness and blessings for the Jewish
people. Biblical passages telling of the
giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and the return of the Jews to
Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile were read to the congregation in Ge’ez, and
then translated into Amharic.
Throughout the morning and
afternoon, 28-year-old Gidon Agaza snapped pictures of the qessotch and
worshipers. “I have been attending for
13 years,” Agaza said. “Each and every
year that I come, I am moved anew to see the mothers praying from their hearts. I have a large archive of Sigd
celebrations. I need these photographs
in order to explain to people about the Ethiopian community and its
traditions.”
At a nearby educational tent,
Shoshana Ben-Dor and Ziva Mekonen-Degu taught the Sigd’s Ge’ez prayers, with transliterations and translations into
Hebrew,
to some 80 visitors, most of whom were young adults. In collaboration with the qessotch, the two
women have been preparing a Sigd siddur (prayer book) — the first of its kind —
which is slated to be published by next year’s festival. The prayers will be written in four columns,
in Ge’ez, Ge’ez transliterated into Hebrew, Amharic, and Hebrew. They hope this will make the holiday
accessible to more Jews.
Ben-Dor, the director of the
North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ), believes that all Jews
would benefit from the Sigd’s celebration.
“The Sigd brings together elements that exist in several Jewish holidays
in a way that no other Jewish holiday does,” she says.
“It has the aspects of
repentance, asking for mercy, and hoping that God has forgiven us that are
found in the High Holidays. It has the
mourning for Jerusalem found in Tisha Be’av.
It has the returning to Zion found in Yom Ha’atzmaut. It has the covenant and giving of the Torah
found in Shavuot. The Sigd is the only day in the entire calendar that brings
these all together — and also includes an annual renewal of the covenant,”
Ben-Dor explains. “There is an
importance in the Sigd for all Jews.”
Orly Sahalo was especially
impressed by the activities for children and young adults at the Armon Hanatziv
Promenade. “They will learn, and this
holiday will have a continuation,” she said.
“I was also moved to see the qessotch distributing handfuls of Jerusalem
soil to the worshipers. People are able
to take a piece of Jerusalem home with them, just as in Ethiopia they were able
to take home soil from the mountain on which the Sigd was held.”
This article was originally published at http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/5493/features/the-sigd-festival-comes-home-to-jerusalem/
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