Thousands of Ethiopian Jews living in Israel gather on a hilltop to celebrate the "Festival of Sigd," a holiday which marks the handing down of the bible at Mount Sinai.
Thousands of Ethiopian Jews living in Israel celebrated the festival of Sigd (SIHGD) in Jerusalem on Thursday (November 27).
Wearing robes and holding dazzling umbrellas, the faithful gathered on a hilltop facing Jerusalem's Old City and Ethiopian High Priests (Kessim) led a prayer.
The holiday, celebrated on the ... Read more

Thousands of Ethiopian Jews living in Israel gather on a hilltop to celebrate the "Festival of Sigd," a holiday which marks the handing down of the bible at Mount Sinai.
Thousands of Ethiopian Jews living in Israel celebrated the festival of Sigd (SIHGD) in Jerusalem on Thursday (November 27).
Wearing robes and holding dazzling umbrellas, the faithful gathered on a hilltop facing Jerusalem's Old City and Ethiopian High Priests (Kessim) led a prayer.
The holiday, celebrated on the 29th day of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, attracts thousands of members of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel who make the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to mark the handing down of the Torah, the bible, at Mount Sinai.
Those in Ethiopian communities who cannot make the journey, travel instead to the nearest highest mountain to observe prayers and enjoy a festive meal.
The celebration is a unique tradition to the Falashas Mura, the Ethiopian Jewish community, which marks the "Giving of the Law".
Known as "Falashas Mura", many Ethiopian Jews have reverted to Judaism since their late 18th and 19th century forbears converted to Christianity, sometimes under duress.
Tens of thousands of practising Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel during dramatic, top-secret operation in the 1980s and 1990s, after a rabbinical ruling that they were direct descendants of the biblical Jewish Dan tribe.
Today, some 110,000 Ethiopians live in Israel. Close