Sigd

When is Sigd? Monday, 9 November 2026

Sigd 5787 falls on Monday, 9 November 2026 — 29 Cheshvan 5787.

So you can check us rather than take our word for it, here is the derivation:

1. The statute fixes the Hebrew date, not the Gregorian one. Section 1(a) of the Sigd Holiday Law: "The Knesset hereby declares the 29th of Cheshvan to be the Sigd Holiday, to be celebrated every year as a state holiday."
2. 29 Cheshvan 5787 falls on Monday, 9 November 2026 on the Hebrew calendar.
3. A second, independent cross-check: Sigd falls fifty days after Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur 5787 — 10 Tishrei — is Monday, 21 September 2026. Counting Yom Kippur itself as day one, day fifty is 9 November 2026 (49 full days after Yom Kippur). Both routes land on the same day.

> Note — 19 November 2026 is wrong. That date is 9 Kislev, ten days after Sigd. The wrong date appeared on this page too until 8 September 2026 and has been corrected. If you booked leave, a bus or a community event around it, the correct date is 9 November 2026.

Sigd in the coming years

The two bold rows are the case the statute itself handles: "should 29 Cheshvan fall on the Sabbath, the Sigd Holiday shall be celebrated on the Thursday preceding it" (s. 1(a)). That is why in 5789 Sigd is marked on a Thursday.

Sources: Sigd Holiday Law, 5768-2008 — Sefer HaChukim 2164, 9 July 2008, p. 625 · statute text — Wikisource · verified September 2026. Gregorian dates computed from the Hebrew calendar and cross-checked against the fifty-day count from Yom Kippur.

What Sigd is

The name Sigd comes from Ge'ez — ስግድ, "prostration". It is the popular name that took hold, and the one the Israeli statute adopted. Beta Israel tradition gives the holiday two further names: Mehlella (ምህልላ, "supplication") — the formal one — and Amata Sew (ዐመተ ሰወ, "the day of gathering").

Sigd is a day of renewing the covenant between the people and God. Its model is Nehemiah's covenant in the days of the Return to Zion: the people gather, the priests read the Torah aloud to them, the people confess what has gone wrong and recommit to the covenant. The Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center describes it as "the day of renewing the covenant, the day of collective soul-searching, and the day of Ethiopian Jewry's longing for Zion" — three things at once: religious, moral and national.

That longing for Zion is not decoration. In Ethiopia, Sigd was the day the community turned its face toward a Jerusalem it had never seen. That is why moving the central ceremony in Israel to a point facing the walls of the Old City is not a change of venue but the closing of a circle.

And why 29 Cheshvan? It was not always the date. The holiday previously fell on 29 Kislev; after a reform of the Beta Israel calendar in the mid-19th century it moved to 29 Cheshvan — fifty days after Astasreyo, that is, Yom Kippur. The tie to Yom Kippur is the heart of the date, and it is exactly the cross-check you can re-run yourself every year.

The mountain — and what the sources actually say

In every one of their settlements in Ethiopia, community members climbed on Sigd to a high mountain near the village — a re-enactment of the giving of the Torah at Sinai. The priests carried the Orit at the head of the procession, followed by the shmagluts — the community elders — and then the rest of the community.

The interesting detail is how the mountain was chosen: each year the priests selected a mountain suited to the ceremony and verified that it was clean and pure of large objects and of graves. A high place was chosen for two reasons — to heighten the resemblance to Sinai, and out of a belief that a high place is purer.

A clarification, because people ask: there is no single "Mount Sigd". Community sources describe an annual choice of a suitable mountain near the settlement — a different mountain in each village and each year, not one pilgrimage site. If you find a page attributing Sigd to one specific named mountain, ask what source stands behind it. We did not find one, so we do not print a name.

The fast

The Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center describes the day as "in its first part a fast day, and in its second part a day of celebration". The fast begins in the morning and is broken when the prayers end — it is not a full 24-hour fast like Yom Kippur.

This matters before you attend: Sigd is not "another Yom Kippur". Its first half is grave and quiet; its second half — after the fast is broken — is a genuine celebration with food, song and dance. Both halves are the holiday.

On the meaning of the fast, what goes on the table when it is broken, and where to shop: The Sigd fast and the break-fast menu — the complete guide.

The kessim and the Orit

The kessim (singular kes) are the religious leaders of Beta Israel. They lead the procession, carry the Orit scrolls, read from them and set the order of prayer. In the communal tradition they walk at the head, with the community behind them by age group.

The Orit (ኦሪት) is the Beta Israel scripture in Ge'ez — the Torah in the Ge'ez recension, and the centre of the ceremony. In Ethiopia, Sigd was the one day of the year on which the Orit left the synagogue; that is why the procession itself, and not only its destination, is part of the rite.

The Sigd reading is not arbitrary. Per the Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center, the passages read are those on the giving of the Torah and the covenant: Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5-6 and 27, and Nehemiah 8-9 — precisely the subject the whole day turns on.

More: Kessim — glossary · Sigd — glossary.

The order of the day

Per community sources, the day is structured like this:

1. The ascent — to the mountain, or to the promenade — while fasting, in a procession headed by the kessim carrying the Orit.
2. Reading from the Orit and prayers — the passages on the giving of the Torah and the covenant, with liturgical poetry in Ge'ez.
3. The kessim address the assembly — communal soul-searching, not only personal.
4. Breaking the fast as the prayers end.
5. The celebratory half — a shared meal, singing and dancing.

What we will not print here: an exact start time, an expected attendance figure, or transport details. Those change year to year and are published by the organisers close to the date. See Sigd 2026 events — nothing enters that page unless the organiser published it, with a link to the source.

The ceremony in Israel — from Mount Zion to the Armon Hanatziv promenade

The first Sigd ceremonies in Israel were held in the early 1980s; President Yitzhak Navon took part in the 1982 observance. At first the assembly and prayers were held in various places, until the custom settled on Mount Zion.

From Mount Zion the ceremony moved to the Gabriel Sherover Promenade — the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem, where the community gathers to this day. Two reasons combine: the spot looks directly out at the Old City and the Temple Mount — the object of the longing expressed in Ethiopia; and the move also reflected the priests' discomfort at passing close to the many churches on Mount Zion. The promenade itself was inaugurated in 1989.

A note on continuity: in 2023, following the Swords of Iron war, the state ceremony at Armon Hanatziv was cancelled. A central ceremony in any given year is not a given — one more reason not to assume a programme in advance, but to wait for the organisers to publish.

The Sigd Holiday Law — and what it actually gives you

The Knesset passed the Sigd Holiday Law on 27 Sivan 5768, 30 June 2008; it was published in Sefer HaChukim 2164 on 9 July 2008. Three provisions are worth knowing:

1. Sigd is an employee's "day of choice". S. 1(b): "The Sigd Holiday is a day of choice; in this section, 'day of choice' means a day on which the choice is the employee's, to take leave or to work; where the employee chose the day as a leave day, the day shall be counted among that employee's leave days."

In practice: you are entitled to choose to take Sigd off, and your employer does not make that choice for you — but the day is counted against your annual leave. It is not an extra paid day off; it is a right of choice. Tell your employer in advance.

2. The Minister of Education must set educational activities for the holiday. S. 1(c): "The Minister of Education shall determine educational activities dedicated to the Sigd Holiday." That is a statutory duty, not a recommendation. What it means for your child's school and what a parent can ask for: Sigd in schools.

3. There is a state opening ceremony. S. 2: "The Minister of Science, Culture and Sport shall order the holding of a central assembly to open the Sigd Holiday."

The remaining sections empower the Minister of Industry, Trade and Employment to determine which work and services may not be halted on the holiday (s. 3), and the Minister of Science, Culture and Sport to determine symbols for the holiday (s. 4).

Source: Sigd Holiday Law, 5768-2008 — Sefer HaChukim 2164, p. 625 · verified September 2026.

Funding for local Sigd activities

Municipalities and community bodies have a support track for local Sigd activities. See Sigd funding — right.

See also

• Sigd 2026 events — a verified list
• Sigd in schools — what the law requires and what a parent can ask for
• Attending Sigd from outside the community — a respectful-attendance guide
• The Sigd fast and the break-fast menu
• Sigd — glossary · Kessim — glossary
• BINA — organization profile

Sources for this page: Sigd Holiday Law, 5768-2008 (Sefer HaChukim 2164, p. 625) · Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center — the Sigd holiday · Sigd — Hebrew Wikipedia (secondary corroboration only) · verified September 2026.