{"id":34689,"date":"2025-11-20T12:41:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/?page_id=34689"},"modified":"2025-11-20T12:44:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:44:20","slug":"ynet-publishes-article-by-ono-ethiopian-scholar-on-sigd-holiday","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/ynet-publishes-article-by-ono-ethiopian-scholar-on-sigd-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"YNET Publishes Article by Ono Ethiopian Scholar on Sigd Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\">\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-34691 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/11\/Ynet-Sigd-Articel-Sharon-11.25.jpg\" alt=\"Headline of YNET article by Rabbi Sharon Shalom about Sigd\" width=\"689\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/11\/Ynet-Sigd-Articel-Sharon-11.25.jpg 689w, https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/11\/Ynet-Sigd-Articel-Sharon-11.25-300x144.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 689px) 100vw, 689px\" \/><\/figure>\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\r\n<h3><strong>YNET Publishes Article by Ono Ethiopian Scholar on Sigd Holiday<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>YNET, the website of Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Achronot , published the article, \u201cBetween memory and forgetting, between Mehelelle and Sigd\u201d by Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom, founder and director of the International Center for the Study of Ethiopian Jewry at Ono Academic College.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the article, Rabbi Dr. Shalom reveals that the ancient Ethiopian Jewish holiday commonly known as <strong>Sigd<\/strong> is only half of the story\u2014its parallel, equally ancient name, <strong>Mehelelle<\/strong>, uncovers a deeper spiritual tension at the heart of the tradition. While <em>Sigd<\/em> reflects bowing, humility and descent, <em>Mehelelle<\/em> represents praise, thanksgiving and uplift. These dual names, he argues, illuminate a spiritual dialectic between falling and rising, submission and transcendence, brokenness and redemption.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rabbi Dr. Shalom uses this duality to reflect on the interplay between memory and forgetting in Jewish life\u2014drawing on Yehuda Amichai\u2019s image of sea and dry land to describe how memory can either ground or overwhelm, while forgetting can wound or heal. He connects this insight to the difficult silences surrounding the traumatic journeys of Ethiopian Jews through Sudan and Ethiopia\u2014silences similar to those found among Holocaust survivors. Through initiatives like the \u201cCreating Memory\u201d project spearheaded by Marty Herskovitz, he suggests, communities are now learning to transform silence into remembrance and healing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also reflects on encounters with the next generation, Holocaust survivors\u2019 descendants, and recently returned hostages from Gaza\u2014all of whom struggle to discern when to speak and when to remain silent. In this tension, he sees the wisdom of Sigd: a holiday that teaches how descent can lead to ascent, how acknowledging darkness can allow light to emerge, and how humility can coexist with spiritual elevation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rabbi Dr. Shalom concludes that Sigd embodies the courage to face pain honestly while still choosing hope and faith. The physical act performed during the holiday\u2014ascending a mountain while carrying the Orit (Torah) and placing a stone on one\u2019s head\u2014symbolizes this inner paradox: bowing the head while lifting the heart. Sigd therefore becomes a profound lesson in balancing memory and forgetting, speech and silence, descent and ascent, revealing how redemption can grow out of brokenness.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The original article in English can be read here: \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ynetnews.com\/jewish-world\/article\/sj3valoewl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.ynetnews.com\/jewish-world\/article\/sj3valoewl<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":34691,"parent":0,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-34689","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34689"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34693,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34689\/revisions\/34693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}