O pinion
Sigd Is Not Just a Holiday for Ethiopian Jews.

It’s a Declaration That Israel Sees Us
BY SHULA MOLA
I HAVE RARELY MISSED
the annual Sigd event in
Jerusalem. When I lived in
Ethiopia, the annual holiday
was a fixture of the Jewish
community, taking place 50
days after Yom Kippur each year
and celebrating our connection
to Jerusalem. After I moved
to Israel in 1984, I fell in love
with the holiday all over again,
celebrating it in Eretz Yisrael.

This year, however, I am not
there — not just because of
COVID-19, but also because
I am here in the U.S. for a
postdoctoral year to preserve
the heritage of Ethiopian
Jewry, creating an oral history
project that will educate and
be a source of strength for the
community. My last Sigd in Ethiopia was
November 1983. The entire
village ascended the nearby
mountain. Men, women
and children all dressed in
our best festive clothes for a
day of fasting and prayer. I
remember the strong feeling
that surrounded us all, that
soon our dream would come
true: to reach Jerusalem. By
that year, some of the villages
of the Beta Israel had already
left to go to Eretz Yisrael,
including some of my uncles.

I watched from the sidelines as
the adults prayed, while at the
same time quietly conversing
with my cousins, excited that
we would no longer have to go
up this mountain, because we
would soon reach Jerusalem
12 NOVEMBER 11, 2021
and pray in the Holy Temple.

There are other memories.

I can still see a woman sitting
on the side and scattering
grains of wheat on the ground
while lamenting in a whisper
and crying. At that time, I did
not understand what she was
doing. Today I understand that
it was part of the observance of
Sigd. The Kessim, our religious
leaders, read verses from the
Torah and prayed for a return
to Zion. But our elders also
prayed for the release of the
souls of the dead, sprinkling
grains of wheat or teff, asking
the birds to eat the grain and
fly their prayers to heaven.

Sigd is not only a gathering
of the living, but also a day
to remember and be reunited
with those that have passed.

in Jerusalem. We wore festive
clothes that we got specially
for the celebration. I was so
excited — not so much for the
holiday, but for the reunion, the
gathering. Sigd was a meeting
for so many people from our
community who came from all
over the country, just like they
did in Ethiopia. I was excited to
see the uncles and aunts I had
not seen for a long time, and
my friends who had been sent
to other boarding schools. We
swapped stories about our new
lives in Israel, and the religious
elements — the fasting, the
praying — were secondary.

When my children reached
school age, I worked to raise
interest in our Sigd holiday at
their school. I volunteered to
talk and lead activities. I wanted
to pressure educational insti-
tutions to include appropriate
content about the holiday and
the community into the curric-
ulum. I had reservations about
the initiative. I worried that
we were trying too hard to ask
Israeli society to accept our
culture. I preferred to fight
against racism and promote
equality in education and
employment. I am glad I did not actively
oppose this initiative. The
association’s staff lobbied
successfully, and the Knesset
enacted a law to designate Sigd
a national holiday in 2008.

Over time I realized that there
is no full integration without
recognition, no equality
without belonging. The fight
for Sigd was an integral part
The heart of Sigd is in the renewal of the covenants between a person
and God, a person and the community, and a person and society.

The day’s customs reflect and strengthen these bonds — charity,
togetherness, singing, dancing, and communal meals.

Once in Israel, Sigd quickly
found a place in our commu-
nity’s life. For as long as I
can remember, every year, on
the 29th day of the month of
Cheshvan, people gathered on
the Promenade in the Armon
Hanatziv neighborhood in
Jerusalem, with a breathtaking
view of the Temple Mount
in the Old City, reenacting
the rituals of our Ethiopian
heritage. My views and practices
around Sigd have changed as
well. When I first arrived in
Israel, I was sent to a girls’
religious boarding school
where we did not celebrate
or even learn about Sigd. The
only concession was that the
school took all of the Ethiopian
students to the main Sigd event
the school to reflect our presence
among the variety of traditions
and customs in Israel. I wanted
the school to see us.

Yet my activism was tinged
with ambivalence. I longed to
help my children feel connected
to their origins and be proud of
who they are. But I chafed at
my assumed responsibilities,
as the school failed to create
space for all children and
their cultures.

In those years I served as
chairwoman of the Association
of Ethiopian Jews. The associ-
ation’s staff came up with
an idea to make the Sigd a
national holiday. Status as a
national holiday would mean
that community members
could take the day off without
penalty, and would allow us
JEWISH EXPONENT
of our struggle.

Once the law came into
effect, the celebration of Sigd
flowered. Every school and
community center that values
multiculturalism invites
Ethiopian-Israelis to come
talk about Sigd and dedicates
a day of learning about the
“Ethiopian community,”
including the schools in which
I worked, and where my
children studied. I often spoke
on these days, still ambiva-
lent. Years later, these schools
still asked me and my children
to participate. I refused,
explaining that these schools
cannot rely on my family and
volunteerism alone, and that
Sigd programming must come
from the schools as an integral
part of their mission.

Released from the duties of
school ceremonies, I turned
inward. I focused on the
celebration in my home with
my immediate and extended
family. Together, we have
renewed an old tradition where
those who live closest to the
Sigd ceremony host those who
come from further away. My
apartment in the Baka neigh-
borhood transforms into a
special place for family and
friends who come to Jerusalem
for the holiday. With each Sigd,
I learn more and more about
the essence of the holiday and
its role in our lives.

The heart of Sigd is in
the renewal of the covenants
between a person and God, a
person and the community, and
a person and society. The day’s
customs reflect and strengthen
these bonds — charity, togeth-
erness, singing, dancing and
communal meals. Rabbi
Sharon Shalom argues that Sigd
was an ancient holiday that was
once celebrated by all Jewish
communities and subsequently
forgotten. Only Beta Israel,
Ethiopian Jews, continued to
celebrate and preserve Sigd.

This year I am away from
home again, in residence at
the Schusterman Center for
Israel Studies at Brandeis
University. We celebrated Sigd
with friends, far away from
Jerusalem’s mountains. It is a
strange feeling to see all the
many invitations and publica-
tions about Sigd celebrations
on social media. I long for our
home in Jerusalem, that, this
year, will not be open to all our
family and friends who come
to us for the Sigd. Hopefully,
soon we will return. l
Shula Mola is an Israeli civil and
human rights activist and educator
and a 2021-2022 postdoctoral
fellow at the Schusterman Center
for Israel Studies at Brandeis
University. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM