November 24, 2011
By Yael Rosen
Today, thousands of Ethiopian Israelis will celebrate Sigd, the annual holiday marking their ancestral desire to return to Zion over the generations.
The actual date of the holiday is the 29th of the Hebrew month of Heshvan, but because this year’s holiday falls on Shabbat, celebrations are pushed up to Thursday.
Many revelers will travel to the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in Jerusalem for a festive reenactment of their annual ascent to a high hill in Ethiopia where they prayed for the end of their long, bitter exile and a swift return to the Promised Land.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, whole Jewish communities left their lives in Ethiopia behind and started walking toward Jerusalem. The journey was treacherous and many lost family members along the way. The dream of Zion clashed with the harsh realities of aliya, with numerous repercussions still being felt today.
As a commemoration of a traditional event from the “old country,” Sigd highlights the ever-growing chasm between the two generations of Israel’s Ethiopian Jews: those who made the journey from Ethiopia, and their children and grandchildren born into the Israeli reality. While the holiday still holds much importance for the elders, symbolizing their fulfilled dreams for the Land of Israel, much of the younger generation does not share those sentiments. [Read more…]
