What is Sigd?
Sigd is a holiday of the Beta Israel community, the Jews of Ethiopia. It falls on the 29th of Cheshvan, fifty days after Yom Kippur. The name comes from Ge'ez, the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia, and means prostration. At its heart are the renewal of the covenant between the people and God, and the longing for Jerusalem that accompanied the community through many generations in Ethiopia.
In 2008 the Knesset recognized Sigd as a national holiday of the State of Israel, and a central state ceremony has been held in Jerusalem ever since. In 2026 Sigd falls on Monday, November 9, and the holiday begins the evening before.
How the holiday is marked
In Ethiopia, people fasted on Sigd, dressed in white and climbed the highest mountain nearby. On the mountain, the kessim, the community's spiritual leaders, read from the Orit - the holy scriptures of Beta Israel - and led prayers in which the longing to return to Jerusalem came back again and again.
In Israel, the central prayer takes place at the Armon HaNatziv promenade in Jerusalem, from a point overlooking the Temple Mount. Members of the community come from all over the country, and what was once a distant longing has become a gathering in the city itself.
Breaking the fast: a shared meal
The Sigd fast ends at midday, followed by dancing and a festive meal. In Ethiopia the whole community traditionally shared one large meal; in Israel, each family holds its own.
It is also the moment when Ethiopian-Jewish cooking speaks the language we know best: one table, fresh injera at the center and stews that everyone shares. At Balinjera, whose very name means eating together, that is the idea we live by all year, in Kerem HaTeimanim next to Carmel Market.