Ethiopian Sigd Made Official Israeli Holiday

From Ethiopian Sigd Made Official Israeli Holiday:

The Knesset decided to formally add the Ethiopian Sigd holiday to the list of state holidays, and will be holding an annual state ceremony for it during the Hebrew month of Heshvan, which usually falls in October or November. Sigd is a traditional Ethiopian day of fasting, dedicated to prayers for the rebuilding of the Temple and giving thanks for the right to return to the Holy Land.

Ethiopians want Sigd to be recognized as Jewish holiday

I would most definitely be for this holiday to be added to the Jewish calendar. A Jew should grab at any opportunity that would enable him to repent and become closer to HaShem. From JPost:

Hundreds of members of the Ethiopian community signed their names to a petition Thursday calling for Israel's religious leaders to incorporate the annual Sigd festival in the calendar of religious Jewish holidays.

As in previous years, Ethiopian Israelis young and old, Israel-born and new and veteran immigrants were bused from around the country on Thursday to Jerusalem's Haas Promenade to mark the ancient holiday, whose name means "to prostate oneself in worship" and is meant to renew the covenant between God and the people of Israel. It is normally celebrated 50 days after Yom Kippur, on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Heshvan, but was held two days early this year because the date fell on Shabbat. The community's spiritual leaders, or Kessim, recite prayers in the Ethiopian Jewish language of Gez calling for the return of all Jews to Jerusalem.

The drive to have the holiday made part of the Jewish calendar was initiated earlier this week by the Israel Association of Ethiopian Jews, which sent its request to Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger.

"There have been many festivals over the years that were started in the Diaspora but were eventually incorporated into the cycle of Jewish holidays by the rabbis of the time," said association spokesman Avi Masfin. He cited Hanukka and Purim as holidays that were established by particular communities and later adopted by all of world Jewry.

Today in Jewish History - Cheshvan 12

If Palestinianism has any validity, so then does Zionism. Anti-Zionism is racism. Get it? Sponsored by Aish.com:

In 1975, the United Nations passed a resolution declaring that "Zionism is racism." Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Chaim Herzog, noted the irony of the vote coming (on the English calendar) exactly 37 years after Kristallnacht. The UN Secretary General at the time was Kurt Waldheim, later accused of war crimes while serving as a Nazi officer. The "Zionism is racism" canard is easily refuted by Israel's open and democratic character -- with Arabs serving in parliament, as well as Israelis of all skin colors. Upon the airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, William Safire noted: "For the first time in history, thousands of black people are being brought to a country -- not in chains but in dignity, not as slaves but as citizens." The UN General Assembly voted to repeal the resolution in 1991.

Cheshvan 12 is also the yahrtzeit of Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, who was assassinated in 1995 after attending a rally promoting the Oslo peace process. Rabin served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and under his command the IDF achieved an overwhelming victory in the Six Day War. As prime minister, he played a leading role in the signing of the Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority. Rabin was awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Shimon Peres and Yassir Arafat.