Positioned on the Jewish calendar between the High Holidays and Hanukkah is the celebration of Sigd, sometimes called Mehlella or Amata Saww. It is one of the many unique religious traditions of the Jews of Ethiopia, or the Beta Israel (House of Israel). Since 2008, Sigd has been an official Israeli state holiday, and its history and customs are taught in public schools, including some of these details:

• Sigd means “prostration” or “bowing down” in Ge’ez, an ancient Ethiopian liturgical language. Sigd evolved to be a commemoration of the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai and the yearning for Jerusalem.   

• Traditionally, Jews in Ethiopia would observe the day by fasting and ascending a mountain-top in the morning, where they would listen to religious leaders, or kessim, read from the community’s Torah, known as the Orit, including passages from the Book of Nehemiah. In the afternoon, after descending the mountain, the Beta Israel would break their fast.

• In the mid-1800s, community leaders changed the timing of Sigd so that it is observed 50 days after Yom Kippur, on the 29th of Cheshvan, which this year begins on November 19. Those 50 days mirror the span between Passover and Shavuot.

•  In Israel, after the rescue of the Beta Israel began in 1984 with Operation Moses, the new Israelis celebrated Sigd for many years by climbing Mount Zion in Jerusalem, surrounded by leaders holding colorful umbrellas. In recent years, public ceremonies have moved to the Armon Hanatziv Promenade, where thousands of Ethiopians from across Israel, some fasting till the afternoon and carrying umbrellas, gather to hear kessim read from the Orit. Sigd carries a theme of Jewish unity, and Jews from all heritages are welcome to join the festive atmosphere.