Sigd Festival

Yesterday morning, we re-enacted a Beta Yisrael Sigd Festival as we "climbed the mountain" to receive the Torah from God and recalled the terrible trek many Beta Yisrael members had to endure in order to reach Israel, the Promised Land, in 1984 (Operation Moses) and 1991 (Operation Solomon).

The morning began in our Edot classroom, as the students dressed in costumes and reviewed their scripts.

We then filed down to the courtyard, where the Shira and Y'tzira students and teachers joined us.

After a brief procession down the stairs by the driveway, we all gathered on Risa Road in single file, led by five Kessim - the religious leaders of the Beta Yisrael community.  And then our ascent "up the mountain" began, as we listened to a recording of "Ha'Masa" ("The Journey"), describing the difficult trek the Beta Yisrael had to make through the desert in Sudan to reach the El Al cargo planes waiting to take them to Israel.

As we "pass through a Beta Yisrael village," we see the basket weavers plying their trade.

But danger is lurking - these shiftas (robbers) are ready for the attack. And just as the song on the CD describes how the robbers attacked at night, we are attacked!

Finally, we arrive at the "summit of the mountain" (our Oneg Room), and, led by our Kessim, we praise God.

Then it's time to break the "fast" of the morning with Ethiopian breads - injera, the pancake-like bread used to scoop up Ethiopian "wats" (stews); Daabo bread ( a honey-coriander yeast bread), and Dabo Kolo, the sweet dough snacks we prepared in class during the previous weekday sessions. And to slake our thirst from the "climb," some delicious Ethiopian beer (which translated to apple juice for us).

After filling ourselves with the bread and juice (and a big thank you goes to our Edot parents who took time out of their busy schedules to prepare the Daabo and injera for us - Caren, Casey, Claire, Larry, Adina, and Rachel!), it was time to enjoy the "Beta Yisrael Proverb" skits our Edot students had written - 8 skits in all, wonderfully acted out by our Edot students.

The following skit's plot teaches us how "One String Braided Together can Tie Down a Lion." 

As the final skit was coming to a close, Maya, our music director, joined us, and led us in the singing of "Al Tir'uni," a song from "The Song of Songs" in the Bible, traditionally considered to have been written by King Solomon.  The English translation to the words is, "Do not stare at me because I am dark-colored, because the sun has gazed upon me; I am black and beautiful and pleasant, O daughters of Jerusalem."

And when we finished singing the song, Maimone, our Y'tzira teacher, led a drum circle (in our case composed of 3 Yemenite or dumbek drums, and the African djemba drum which he played).

And then, once we established a steady beat with the drums, Maya led us in singing the African version of "Am Yisrael Chai" ("The Nation of Israel Lives").

By this time, everyone was moving around to the beat on the floor, so it was a smooth transition for everyone to get up and begin shoulder dancing to the beat. Since the Shira and Y'tzira students might not have had a chance to view an Ethiopian shoulder dance (which we had practiced a few weeks ago in our Edot class), I projected this YouTube video of a Shoulder Dance onto the wall in the Oneg Room, so all the students (and parents) could learn how to shoulder dance and follow along with the music on the YouTube track.

Now you know what everyone is looking at on the wall.

And still our drummers kept up the beat! 

Then it was time to form a processional line to go "down the mountain" back to our classrooms, following Maya playing the guitar as we all sang "Am Yisrael Chai" one last time. In the classroom, the students took off their costumes, gathered their things together, then joined the 3rd-6th graders for Tefillah in the Sanctuary.

We have now ended our unit of study about the Beta Yisrael of Ethiopia. Our next unit of study, beginning just before our winter break, will be about the Jews of Iraq - Babylonian Jews, as they call themselves. They were the very first Edah, who created a pattern of existence in exile which other edot would follow for centuries after.

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!