Mazkeret Batya Invites Residents to November 12 Sigd Gathering at Gan Yoav

Mazkeret Batya Local Council shared an invitation on November 10 to a community gathering in honor of Sigd at Gan Yoav. Organized by Garin Mazkeret Batya, the gathering is scheduled for Thursday, November 12, from 17:00 to 18:30. “We invite you to a gathering in honor of Sigd,” the organizers said in the invitation circulated by the council. The program lists light refreshments, games, bracelet making and a buna coffee ceremony. The accompanying poster gives the gathering’s Hebrew date as 2 Kislev. Sigd is an Ethiopian Jewish holiday centered on renewing the covenant with God made at Mount Sinai. In a November 9 educational article, the Education Ministry describes the tradition’s roots in the communal covenant renewal recounted in chapter 9 of Nehemiah. It also connects the holiday with Ethiopian Jews’ longing to return to the Land of Israel. The holiday is observed 50 days after Yom Kippur and includes fasting, repentance and communal reflection. The ministry describes gatherings in Jerusalem led by the community’s religious leaders, the kesim, and notes that Sigd became an official Israeli holiday in 2008.