The Sigd Holiday
and
the Qessotch
At his home in Karmiel in northern Israel, Qes Efraim Zion-Lawi examines a Jewish book from Ethiopia that his parents concealed while in Sudan. Photo — Shai Afsai
Can Ethiopian Jewry’s Sigd become a holiday for all Jews?
The Wisdom Daily, December 8, 2022
Jewish religious and communal leaders of all ethnicities and denominations would do well to embrace the qessotch and Beta Israel rabbis’ dream for the month of Ḥeshvan, fifty days after Yom Kippur: a “worthy and honorable” pan-Judaic holiday of fasting, prayer, Torah study, and collective repentance; of renewing the Jewish covenant with God; of commemorating the return from the Babylonian exile to Jerusalem; and of yearning for the full ingathering of Jews into the land of Israel and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple.
An earlier version of this article was first published in The Jerusalem Post on November 9, 2014.
Ethiopian Jewish Religious Leader Visits US
The Jerusalem Post, April 22, 2021
First published in The Jerusalem Post on April 14, 2014
“The traditions of Ethiopian Jewry have formed my personality and allowed me to come all the way to Rhode Island to make a connection between Jews.”
A Small Window Between Two Distant Worlds: Qes Efraim’s Visit to Rhode Island
Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes 17:1 (2015), pp. 118–129
The Times of Israel — The Blogs, November 12, 2014
The Sigd: From Ethiopia to Israel
CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly 61:4 (Fall 2014), pp. 149–168
Discovering America: A Journey to a Jewish Community in the US
(401)j, June 26, 2014
written by Efraim Zion-Lawi, qes of the Beta Yisrael community of Karmiel, Israel, and translated from Hebrew at his request for publication in Rhode Island
with photographs by Ilene Perlman and Gidon Agaza
CJ: Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism 7:1 (Autumn 2013), pp. 30–33
The Jews of Ethiopia would like all Jews to observe the Sigd, a celebration of Jewish unity, reflection and prayer.
Jewish Quarterly 59:4 (Winter 2012), pp. 10–12
A dispatch on the 2012 celebration of Ethiopian Jewry’s Sigd holiday in Jerusalem