News and Updates

Ono Celebrates the Sigd Holiday

On the occasion of the Sigd Holiday, Ono Academic College held an ancient Beta Israel prayer service and a series of lectures in the campus’ concert hall and auditorium.

The program, whose master of ceremonies was Lian Bar of Ono’s Student Union, began with an ancient Gez-Langauge Ethiopian Jewish prayer service offered by two Keisim  (Traditional Ethiopian Jewish religious leaders), Kahan Aviyu Azariah and Kahan Shimon Elias. Before beginning the service, Keis Aviyu noted that Sigd is not just a Bete Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) holiday but rather a holiday for all the people of Israel, instituted by the Biblical leader, Ezra, at the time of the return to Israel after the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem. Bete Israel preserved the holiday over millenia and today are returning it to the rest of the Jewish people.

Yinon Keren, the chair of Ono’s Student Organization, followed by offering greetings on behalf of the organization and the college.

Adv. Zeev Kaso, founder and director of Ono’s Program for the Integration of Ethiopian Israeli Students in Higher Education and Society gave the program’s first keynote lecture on the subject of the history of the holiday and how it was celebrated in Ethiopia. He noted how through a process of Ethiopian halacha (the explication of Jewish law for use in everyday practice) the date of the holiday was moved from 24 Tishrei, which is listed in the biblical books of Ezra and Nehemia to 27 Cheshvan, when it is celebrated today.  This is to create a 7 week period of holiness from Yom Kippur to Sigd, in parallel to the 7 week period between Pesach and Shavuot. Kaso said that the holiday represents a personal accounting of the soul, while Yom Kippur offers a collective accounting of the soul.

In Ethiopia, the holiday was celebrated by fasting, ascending a mountain  (as many critical biblical Jewish events took place on mountains), saying “mehalela” prayers, reading the Torah, bowing down and more. After midday, the people would descend from the mountain and meet up with members of other villages to have a festive meal of Mitzva.  Kaso noted an interesting aspect of ascending the mountain, when members of Bete Israel would place stones or sacks on their heads or backs as sign of submission. He said traditional prayers were for health, success, forgiveness and so that their community would not assimilate.

Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom, the founder and director of Ono Academic College’s International Center for the Study of Ethiopian Jewry gave the program’s first keynote lecture on the subject of Sigd, Ono and 10.7. Along the way, Rabbi Dr. Shalom told many personal anecdotes including the fact that in Ethiopia, it was the women who performed circumcisions. In the Bible, Tziporah, Moses Ethiopian wife, circumcised their children.  Shalom also noted that his own grandmother did very good work. 

Rabbi Dr. Shalom discussed the prejudice experienced by the Bete Israel community and by individuals upon their arrival to Israel and afterwards. However, the values of Bete Israel, and particularly those expressed in the Sigd holiday, have always given the community hope for a better future.

The local newspaper “Ono News” covered the event and their article can be found here:

https://ononews.co.il/news-kiryat-ono/%D7%9E%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%99%D7%97%D7%93-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%97%D7%92-%D7%94%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%92%D7%93-%D7%91%D7%90%D7%92%D7%95%D7%93%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%95%D7%93%D7%A0%D7%98/