Tens of thousands of Israelis of Ethiopian origin celebrated the traditional Sigd Festival in Jerusalem on Monday. On the Armon Hanatziv Promenade, which offers a sweeping view of the Old City and the Temple Mount, worshippers from various generations gathered for prayers and religious ceremonies.
Many participants wore traditional white robes. The spiritual leaders of the Ethiopian Jewish community, known as the Kessim, led the prayers. Beneath colorful ceremonial umbrellas, they commemorated their ancestors’ centuries-long yearning for Jerusalem and the special bond between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.
For generations, Ethiopian Jews prayed to return to Jerusalem. 🇮🇱
Today, on Sigd, a sacred holiday of prayer and fasting, they gather in Jerusalem. The same prayers. The same faith. And every year, a reminder that they are home. ❤️
#ethiopianjews #jerusalem #jewishheritage #jewishtraditions #jewishculture
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) November 9, 2026
Sigd is celebrated every year on the 29th of Cheshvan, 50 days after Yom Kippur. At its core is the renewal of the covenant between God and the Jewish people. The tradition traces back to the biblical accounts of the renewal of this covenant during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.
In Ethiopia, Jews traditionally gathered on mountaintops to fast, pray, and express their hope for a return to Jerusalem. Today, with the majority of the community having immigrated to Israel, the festival has taken on additional significance: for many families, the centuries-long longing for Jerusalem has become lived reality.
A festival of Jewish unity
The Monday celebrations made clear that Sigd is intended not only to preserve the history of Ethiopian Jews, but also to unite the entire Jewish people.
One participant told Israeli television channel Channel 14 that Sigd is not exclusively a holiday of the Ethiopian community, but belongs to the entire Jewish people. The goal, he said, is to spread as much light and unity as possible. Volunteers distributed flowers during the event to underscore this message.
Younger Israelis who were already born in Israel also took part in the celebrations. For many of them, Sigd is an opportunity to connect with the religious and cultural traditions of their parents and grandparents and to preserve their family roots.
Since 2008, Sigd has been officially recognized in Israel as a national holiday. Nevertheless, it has so far been celebrated predominantly within the Ethiopian Jewish community. Representatives of the community hope that in the future, more Israelis of other backgrounds will also participate in the celebrations.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also attended the celebrations. In his speech, he acknowledged that Israel had made significant mistakes in integrating Ethiopian immigrants. The country had done something remarkable by bringing Ethiopian Jews to Israel, he said, but had partly failed in receiving and integrating them. Herzog called for equal opportunities for Israelis of Ethiopian origin and decisive action against exclusion and racism. With an eye to the recent Knesset elections, he also called for social reconciliation.
President Isaac Herzog in conversation with spiritual representatives of the Ethiopian Jewish community during the Sigd celebration in Jerusalem, November 9, 2026. Photo: Maayan Toaf/GPO.
Prayers at the Western Wall
In addition to the central event on the Armon Hanatziv Promenade, special prayers were also held at the Western Wall on Monday. Hundreds of members of the Ethiopian Jewish community took part.
The Kessim prayed for the unity of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and the success of the soldiers and security forces. The Rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz, also joined in the prayers.
A special component of the ceremony was the reading from the Orit, a sacred collection of scriptures of the Ethiopian Jews. A copy had been brought especially from the Israel National Library to the Western Wall.
Guided tours and an exhibition on the millennia-old history of the Ethiopian Jewish community were also organized for participants.
From longing for Jerusalem to the return to Israel
The history of Ethiopian Jews is closely linked to the return to Israel. Particularly well known is Operation Solomon in May 1991, when Israel brought approximately 14,500 Ethiopian Jews from war-torn Ethiopia to Israel in less than two days.
Today, around 180,000 people of Ethiopian origin live in Israel. However, members of the community in Ethiopia continue to await the opportunity to immigrate and reunite with their families.
During this year’s celebrations, remembrance was also paid to Haymanot Kasau, who has been missing since February 2024. The girl, who was nine years old at the time, disappeared in Safed and has been missing ever since. The religious leaders of the Ethiopian Jewish community held up a large poster bearing her photograph during the ceremony and called for the search for her to continue.
Spiritual leaders of the Ethiopian Jewish community hold up a poster bearing the image of missing Haymanot Kasau during the Sigd celebration in Jerusalem, November 9, 2026. Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.
In the afternoon, the traditional fast came to an end. The official event program had scheduled the breaking of the fast for 2:00 p.m.
For the Ethiopian Jewish community, Sigd thus remains far more than a religious memorial day. The festival connects the memory of life in Ethiopia with the return to Israel and the desire to pass on their own traditions to future generations.
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