The Ethiopian Jewish holiday Sigd was celebrated at a number of AMIT Network schools. Sigd is a holiday that commemorates the giving of the Torah, renews the community’s covenant with G-d, and promotes the community’s feeling of unity. In Israel the Sigd has become a major yearly gathering of the Ethiopian-Israeli community and is celebrated by a mass pilgrimage to Jerusalem. For other Israelis, the holiday provides an opportunity to connect with Ethiopian Jewish roots and culture.
At AMIT Dvir in Beit Shemesh, students experienced the holiday in a multi-sensory way. They learned about the difficulties Ethiopian Jews had in coming to Israel through a play and music. Students visited a tent set up at the school where they tasted traditional Ethiopian food, drank Ethiopian coffee, danced to Ethiopian music and tried on traditional Ethiopian garb. Afterward, students had a chance to learn how to write their names in Amharic and participated in a competition in which they needed to interpret ancient Ethiopian proverbs.
AMIT Even HaEzer Elementary School in Mateh Yehuda marked the holiday by inviting an Ethiopian actress to tell her family’s story through a media presentation and fascinating film clips. Students at Ulpanat AMIT Anna Teich in Haifa had an Ethiopian cultural day, complete with the buna coffee ceremony, an exhibit of Ethiopian crafts, traditional dress and hair braiding.
“Our school has a fascinating mosaic of students from different backgrounds,” said Shmuel Koresh, head of the AMIT Dvir Junior High School. “In celebrating Sigd, we learned important lessons from Ethiopian Jewry about the love of Israel, the yearning to come here and the importance of preserving tradition. This experiential celebration undoubtedly contributed to increasing the sense of closeness and unity among us,” said Koresh.
