Over the centuries, the history of Ethiopian Jewry (Beta Israel) has been laced with tragedy and persecution. In combating repression, their spiritual leaders fought to keep their members united and steadfast in their beliefs.

The annual Sigd holiday is an important event in the Beta Israel calendar year, and one that did much to keep hope alive – hope that one day the community would return en masse to their ancient homeland. 

For hundreds of years, Jews in Ethiopia gathered on the 29th day of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan to proceed together up a high mountain, to fast and to pray for that return. The kessim, the spiritual leaders, read throughout the day from their Orit (Torah) and led the community in prayer. At sunset, those gathered would all proceed down the mountain to break their fast and to celebrate the giving of the Torah and the renewal of their Covenant with God, as set out in the Book of Nehemiah. 

The community paid a high price for its loyalty to Judaism. Over the centuries, the Beta Israel fell prey to many forms of repression. In Gondar province, the anti-Semitic governor, Maj. Melaku Tefera, ordered that the weekly market day be switched to Saturday, thus ruthlessly curtailing the livelihood of thousands of Jews. The teaching of Hebrew was made a punishable act, and young teachers were jailed and often tortured. 

“I became bald overnight,” Osnako Sendeke, a former Hebrew teacher in Ambover village, said of his first round of torture. His wry grin and pronounced limp reflect the agony that this Prisoner of Zion endured. 

“The Sigd gathered us all together. It was a day for us to express the joy of receiving the Torah, a day that kept us strong,” Osnako said. 

Since their arrival in Israel, the community has been gathering to celebrate the Sigd on Jerusalem’s Sherover Promenade in Armon Hanatziv, Talpiot, –  a high point that provides a spectacular view of the Old City.

The event begins with a procession of the white turbaned kessoch, with their colourful umbrellas held high overhead, and is followed by their lengthy reading of religious texts and symbolic teachings, and then the blowing of the shofar. It thus also serves as a gathering point for the whole community and an opportunity to pass their beliefs and traditions on to the next generation. And if elaborate hairstyles and colourful, traditional costumes are discreetly flaunted and bits of gossip exchanged, well, that’s the way of Jews congregating everywhere.

In July 2008, the Israeli Knesset made the Sigd a state holiday. So, should we not now incorporate the Sigd into our Jewish calendar here in Canada? Cheshvan is the only month without a Jewish religious festival. As such, it is often referred to as mar-Cheshvan, or “bitter Cheshvan,” because of the lack of festive opportunities to celebrate our faith. It might be said that the Sigd is the Beta Israel community’s precious gift to the Jewish world, completing as it does the calendar year with a holy day that is unique to the Beta Israel but is now available for adoption by all Jews.  

On the evening of Nov. 20 at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, I’ll be incorporating a discussion about the Sigd holiday into a book talk about Cry of the Giraffe: Based on a True Story. In my novel, the heroine, a young Jewish teenager named Wuditu (not her real name) wakes up on Easter morning with the thought that, having been trapped in slavery and kept away from her community, she has no idea when she should be marking the Sigd. 

Despite her desperately ill and malnourished condition, she decides: “It would be better to mark the day late rather than not at all. So as I worked, I fasted that whole day and prayed that I would find a way to go home to my family and to my people. That evening, I collapsed, unconscious – right in the middle of my mistress’ coffee cups! Fortunately, I didn’t break any of her dishes or my debt would have been even greater and my enslavement even longer.”

Fortunately, Wuditu now celebrates the Sigd in Jerusalem. In February 1992, I went from Israel to Ethiopia to look for her and to pay for her freedom. A few days later, we climbed the highest mountain near the formerly Jewish village of Ambover. Nearby, we saw the school where, decades ago, Osnako taught Hebrew to Wuditu’s brother, David. Next to it still stands the synagogue with its metal Star of David, fashioned by a Jewish craftsman. From that village, hundreds of Jews set out for Sudan.  

This year, the Sigd will be commemorated in Canada as well as in Jerusalem. 

Judie Oron is a Canadian Israeli journalist, lecturer and author and the former director of the Jerusalem Post Funds.