A Celebration of Heritage
February 28, 2012 - 5:00 am“All the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.” — Nehemiah 8:1
Just a few weeks ago, Irish Americans (and even some who are not) celebrated their unique heritage and culture during St. Patrick’s Day. Parades were held; people donned green; and in my former hometown of Chicago, they even dyed the Chicago River green.
While these celebrations are mostly light-hearted and joyous occasions, they do serve a purpose in helping people remember their ancestral roots. They keep alive the rich traditions and strengthen the tie to their homeland.
For centuries, the Ethiopian Jews have celebrated their Jewish faith and roots in a unique holiday, known as Sigd, which means “to prostrate oneself.” The celebration is believed to have started in the 15th century when the priests gathered the Beta Israel, “House of Israel” as they call themselves, to strengthen their faith in the face of great persecution.
The priests were inspired by the description in the book of Nehemiah of how the Jews who had returned from Babylon after seventy years of exile dedicated themselves to follow God: “All the people came together as one in the square of the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel” (Nehemiah 8:1).
Prior to the mass aliyah (immigration to Israel) of Beta Israel, which began in the 1980s, generations of Ethiopian Jews would walk for days to a mountaintop where thousands would join in prayer and the reading of the Torah. Following the afternoon prayers and blowing of the shofar, the entire community would descend from the mountain for a joyous feast.
In this way, the Ethiopian Jews celebrated and remembered their connection to Jerusalem and renewed their commitment to Jewish unity.
Sigd is now an official holiday, celebrated by all Jews in Israel, and Ethiopian Jews who have made aliyah to Israel gather at the Western Wall in Jerusalem to commemorate this day. It is truly an inspiring and spiritual experience.
Although the holiday of Sigd is one that Ethiopian Jews have exclusively celebrated for centuries, it is a holiday that many Jews can relate to. Jews in Israel have gathered from Europe, America, Russia, Iran, and countless other countries of their birth. Uniting in Jerusalem is the answer to our prayers, because all of us were once strangers in a strange land.
The holiday of Sigd commemorates the struggles all who resettle went through to arrive in the Holy Land. It also reminds us about the love that God will always have for His children, wherever they may be found.
The Jewish people have a far more heritage. A blessed one. They have been entrusted with the oracles of God (Romans 3:2) To Israel belong the adoption as sons, the glory and the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service and the promises (Romans 9:4). And I thank God to have the Jewish people in the world, because of them everyone who want to see it can understand that there is a true God. But above all I thank God that He include the rest of the world too. Galatians 3:28,29 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
It is not wrong to celebrate, but would it not be better to celebrate the favor of God upon mankind? As for me my joyful celebration is to now that I am a child of God and that one day I will be with Him. Above all that He is with me every single day. To sustain, guide, comfort me, and to help me to understand His way. So please remember Him EVERY DAY OF ALL YOU LIVES.
“Rich traditions for the homeland” we can all relate to, especially for those of us who have sufferred so.
Col.3:11 – Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Eph. 2:11- 18 – Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ – remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this body to reconcile both of them to God through that cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him, we both have access to the Father by One Spirit.
God the Father has made it very clear that He loves all His creation, especially mankind. He hopes that all shall be saved through His Son, Jesus Christ. Yes, His 1st preference is the Jews (outwardly); but He didnt neglect those Gentiles who inwardly are Jews.
Romans 2: 28 -29 – A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God .