Dabo Bread and Dancing at Bus Stops: Highlights From an Inspiring Sigd

    An outpouring of culture, custom, and collectivism, this past Thursday’s Sigd celebration filled me with awe and admiration. Vast crowds of Ethiopian-Jews gathered together on the Jerusalem Tayelet to celebrate connection and yearning to reside in Jerusalem, a reality that was made possible for thousands of Ethiopian families, who endured strenuous travels and obstacles, in the past few decades. 

    The unique customs and practices of Ethiopian Jewry shine a light on how incredible it is to have maintained tradition and devoutness throughout the diaspora. After the opening ceremony of the event, in which politicians addressed the feats and accomplishments of the community, I met a friendly young man named Oded. After offering my friends and I to taste some of his Dabo, a traditional Ethiopian bread that many Ethiopian Jews serve on Shabbat and that many break their Sigd fast with, he explained with eagerness his mom’s commitment to Judaism and gratitude to be in Jerusalem. His parents, he told us, immigrated to Israel in Operation Moses, and ingrained in him the importance of tradition which they had maintained while growing up in Ethiopia. 

    When walking down the Tayelet, various booths were up selling books, literature, and memorabilia targeted at Ethiopian-Jewish customs. Almost all the books were in Amharic, which further emphasized to me the community’s unique ability to maintain identity from their homeland whilst integrating into Israeli society. I saw this same commitment at another booth in which two women sold a children’s educational card game with pictures on one side and the word for the picture in both Amharic and Hebrew on the other. Language is one of the key unifiers and preservers of culture. By committing to educating children in Amharic and Hebrew, these Ethiopian Olim dedicate themselves to maintain the Jewish and Ethiopian cultures. In a society where traditional Judaism is constantly challenged by technology and development, and where the clash between universalism and particularism characterize Judaism, I am inspired by the Ethiopian Jewry who are able to simultaneously maintain tradition and to integrate. 

    There is no better ice-breaker than food, and indeed this held true again when meeting Brhan, an Ethiopian-Israeli young woman currently studying at Ben Gurion University. The second person to offer us some Dabo, we gladly accepted and quickly got to bonding and talking. She told us she speaks Amharic at home, which you would never guess because of how flawless her English and Hebrew are, and that her name means “dawn” in Amharic, which her dad chose because he loves sunsets. She passionately spoke to us about Ethiopian customs and traditions, both religious ones and cultural ones. One that particularly stood out was her explaining that many Ethiopian-Israeli families keep pets and dogs because in Ethiopia their parents and grandparents were shepherds and tended to animals, and this aptitude towards animals remained intact. 

    One of the ceremony's practices that draws the most attention is the blessings of the Kessim, the Ethiopian- Jewish religious leaders. Brhan explained to me that they act in ways similar to Rabbis, but deal with more intimate matters such as household disputes and interpersonal arguments. They spend many years studying, and each Ethiopian Jewish family can choose their own Kess that they go to for guidance and advice. They were distinguishable at the Sigd through their elegant gowns and highly adorned and embellished umbrellas. People of all ages were going up to them and receiving blessings from them, a phenomena I found touching as the relationship of the Kessim to the community signals a relationship transcending religion and reaching points of deep history and tradition. Among the advocates for the Kessim in Israeli society is Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom, who I got a chance to very briefly meet on the way out of the Sigd ceremony. 

    The significance and enthusiasm evoked by this holiday didn’t stop at the Tayelet, however. At the bus stop after the ceremony, a group of young Ethiopian- Israelis were playing traditional Ethiopian music while dancing and celebrating. A little hesitant and scared but eager to join in on the spontaneous bus-stop-celebrating, I began dancing with them. They became ecstatic and started dancing and signing with me, showing me classic dance moves from their culture. The sheer excitement and energy I felt at the bus stop showed me the value of a multicultural society. When we got on the bus, we got to talking with one of the bus-stop dancers, Itafu, who told us about his experience as a lone soldier who came to Israel in 2009, inspired by the “kibbutz galuyot” or ingathering of exiles promise of the bible. Israel’s attraction to Jews from around the world is essentially what has outlined Israeli society. While a unified and distinct Israeli culture has shaped throughout its short life, the Sigd holiday exposed to me that within this culture exists a plethora of practices and traditions that are unique to the different groups and that make Israel Israel.

Written by Abigail Leibowitz