Hazkarah: A Symbolic Day for the Reconstituting of the Jewish-Ethiopian Community


 

Publication Date: March 2005

Publisher: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

Author(s): Emanuela Trevisan Semi

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: Zionism; Holidays; Race; Diversity

Type: Report

Abstract:

The author analyzes the invention of Hazkarah ("memory"), a new holiday of Ethiopian Jews in Israel that commemorates those who perished while trying to reach Israel from Ethiopia before and during Operation Moses (1984-5). The author explains that Hazkarah expresses the Ethiopian Jews' process of Israelization in contrast to their traditional holiday of Segd, celebrated in Ethiopia to celebrate the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai and reintroduced in Israel to express the community's re-Ethiopianization.