Sunday, November 16, 2025

I don't play favorites, just ask your sister Perfectia.

 





1)    Textploration, 5 minutes

2)   Hebrew groups

3)   The Jewish holiday you have never heard of

4)   When Parents play favorites

5)   But nobody believes in blessings anymore

 

SGD intro/BY quiz

Rabbi Shalom Sharon

 








1)    1) Which is the name by which the Ethiopian Community calls themselves?

a.     Beit Keneset

b.     Beit Itiopi

c.     Beta Yisrael

d.     Yehudim

e.     Sufganiot

 

 

2)   What did Ethiopian Jews have in the past 2000 years that no other Jews had until the 20th century?

a.     A separate kingdom with an army and king or queen

b.     A goal to return to the land of Israel

c.     Copies of the works of King Solomon

d.     Copies of the words of King David

e.     The location of the lost ark of the covenant

 

 

3)   What is an Ethiopian Jewish religious leader’s title?

a.     Gabbi

b.     Chazzan

c.     Kes

d.     Rav

e.     Penultimate Ombudsman

 

4)   Which Jewish Holiday did Ethiopian Jews not celebrate until they came to the state of Israel?

a.     Hannukah

b.     Purim

c.     Shavuot

d.     Yom Kippur

e.     All of them

 

5)   Which of the following is not one of the theories about how the Ethiopian Jewish community came to be?

a.     The Beta Israel may be the lost Israelite tribe of Dan fleeing the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel in 762.

b.     They were Ethiopain Christians who converted after meeting the great scholar and wandering poet Yehudah Halevi

c.     They may be descendants of Menelik I, son of King Solomon and Queen Sheba.

d.     They may be descendants of Jews who fled Israel for Egypt after the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE and settled in Ethiopia.

 

 

 

 

 

6)   Operation Solomon was a massive Airlift of Ethopian Jews from to Israel.  How many Jews were rescued?  Over…

a.     1,400

b.     5,400

c.     7400

d.     14,000

 

7)    Which language was the native language of Ethiopian Jews?

a.     Amharic

b.     Arabic

c.     Aramaic

d.     Swahili

 

8)   It’s not all good news for Ethiopian Jews living in Israel, who face racism and the challenges of coming from the world of rural Africa.  What percentage of Ethiopian Israelis live below the poverty line?

a.     6%

b.     12%

c.     42%

d.     72%

e.     0%.  Israel is a perfect country.  Nothing ever goes wrong there.

 

9)    Not all Israelis welcomed the Ethiopian Immigrants.  To make matters worse, many major rabbis said the Ethiopians were not really Jews, and had to convert if they wanted to be part of the Jewish people. Which  rabbi  and his followers said that the Ethiopian Jews were already Jewish?  BONUS POINT:  Which rabbi said that they were technically not Jewish, but Jews were obligated to help them since they had put their lot in with the Jewish people? 

a.     Rabbi Moshe Feinstien-- US Ashkenazi Jews

b.     Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef-- Sephardic Jews in Israel

c.     The Lubavitcher Rebbe -- Chabbd Chasidim worldwide

d.     Rabbi Shalom Elyahshiv and Ashkenazi Jews in Israel

 

 

10)                   Yityish Aynaw (32), a former officer in the Israel Defense Forces, became the first Ethiopian-Israeli to do what?

a.     Rise to the rank of Major

b.     Become elected to the Kenesset

c.     Become the winner of Israel’s version of “the voice”

d.     Win the Miss Israel beauty pageant

e.     Eat the 152 felafel ball  “Mega Pita” sandwhich  At  Felafel Adir in Jerusalem

 

11) How many Ethiopian Jews live in Israel today?

a.     15,000

b.     50,000

c.     125,000

d.     375,000

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LENTILS, LENTILS, LENTILS!

 

You and your team have only 5 minutes to provide answers to these questions!!  Work as a team and appoint a person to speak for your team when team time is over.

 

1)     T Or F:  Canada farms more lentils than India.

2)    T Or F:  What makes the rice and lentil dish called  Mujadera extra tasty  are  mounds of deep fried onions.

3)    T Or F:  Palestinians make a lot of Mujadera, but replace the lentils with peas.

4)    T Or F:  Red lentils are only red when you cook them. Dry, they are orange.

5)    T Or F:  Yellow split peas are not the same as yellow lentils.

6)    T Or F:   Beluga lentils are named for sharing their colors with Beluga whales.

7)    T Or F:   French Lentils are the largest lentils- and the most expensive.

8)    T Or F:   Green lentils take the longest to cook. Red Lentils take the shortest time

9)    T Or F:   Lentil are eaten on every continent but South America.

10) T Or F:   Ethiopians use yellow lentil stew as baby food. 

 


 

BEREY’SHEET (Genesis) 25:

Yitzhak was forty years old when he took to wife Rivkah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, of  Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean.  Yitzhak pleaded with Adonai on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and Adonai responded to his plea, and his wife Rivkah conceived.  But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If this keeps up, how can I endure it?”

She went to inquire of Adonai, and Adonai answered her, “Two nations are in your womb, Two separate peoples shall come from your body; One people shall be mightier than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.”

When her time to give birth was at hand, there really were twins in her womb.

The first one emerged red, like a hairy cloak all over; so they named him Eisav (Rough One).   Then his brother emerged, holding on to the eikev/heel of Eisav; so they named him Ya’akov (Heel-grabber). Yitzhak was sixty years old when they were born.  As the boys grew up, Eisav became a skillful hunter, a man of the outdoors; but Ya’akov was a simple man who dwelled among the tents.   Yitzhak favored Eisav because he had a taste for game; but Rivkah favored Ya’akov.

Once when Ya’akov was cooking a [red lentil] stew, Eisav came in from the field, famished.   And Eisav said to Ya’akov, “Please give me some adom-adom ha’zeh/of that red-red stuff to gulp down, for I am famished!” -and this is why he was [nick-]named Edom [Redish].  Ya’akov said, “First sell me your birthright.” And Eisav said, “I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?”  But Ya’akov said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Ya’akov.  Ya’akov then gave Eisav bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank, and he rose and went away. In this way did Eisav abandon  the birthright.


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JEWISH COMMENTATORS ON PLAYING FAVORITES IN TOLDOT:

Whose explanation do you like best? Or do you have one of your own?

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The Bechor Shor- Joseph ben Isaac  of Orléans 12th century French Tosafist (commentators on Rashi’s work), exegete, and poet.

ורבקה אוהבת את יעקב. AND RIVKAH LOVED JACOB:  Jacob was a shepherd and busied himself with dwelling in the world, and women like men who raise tiny baby goats and little baby calves.


Nachmanides/Ramban- Spain, 13th century.  Physician, mystic, often argues with everyone who came before him, especially Rashi and Ibn-Ezra.

BECAUSE THERE WAS VENISON IN HIS MOUTH.  It is possible to explain that Isaac loved Esav because there was always venison in the mouth of Isaac. All day he would desire to eat the venison.  He would not eat anything else, and Esav was the one who brought it to him, as Scripture said, A cunning hunter.

 

Or HaChayim-  Rabbi Chayim Ben Moshe ibn Attar, Morocco, 16th century, Talmudist and kabbalist, Rosh Yeshiva.  His Torah commentary is from the weekly lessons he taught his daughters (he had no sons).

 

According to Onkelos, the phrase “that Isaac ate from the game Esav hunted," we must ask: why did this not also cause Rebeccah to love Esav, for surely they took most of their meals together or at least Esav did not discriminate against her and gave her meat? Perhaps the reason is found in the commentary of the Maharik:  Isaac was under an obligation to feed his wife an expensive meaty diet. His wife came from a family who was  used to such a diet,  and so it was expected that her husband would  provide meals in the style she was accustomed to. Bethuel was a wealthy and influential man in his town, and no doubt Rebeccah had been used to a high standard of living prior to her marriage. She would not therefore be particularly grateful for the meat, considering it merely as her due.



Samson Raphael Hirsch,  19th Century Germany.  Founder of “Torah and Worldly Wisdom” approach to modern life.  Father of what we think of as Modern Orthodoxy.  Concerned with the wider world and how Jews connected to it. 

 

A second factor that could only have a damaging effect was the divided feelings of parents regarding their children. Unity of parents in their upbringing and the same attitude and love for all their children - even for the less well-behaved ones, who, even more than the physically sick ones, are in most need of loving devotion - that is the first basic condition and the cornerstone of everyone’s education.

 

 The fact that Isaac's sympathies turned to Esav and Rebekah to Jacob can easily be explained by the attractiveness of the contrasts. It would not be impossible Isaac liked Esav's strong, energetic nature and perhaps saw in him a strength to support the family in a way that he lacked.  Rebekah, on the other hand, saw an image of  [spiritual] life blossoming in Jacob's entire being that she had never contemplated in her father's house.

 

The sympathies are understandable, but parents should not allow themselves to be guided and determined by such dark feelings in their relationship with their children.

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

BEREY’SHEET (Genesis) 27:

When Yitzhak was old and his eyesight had become dim, he called his older son Eisav and said to him, “My son.” He answered, “Henini!/I am here!” And he said, “I am old now, and I do not know how soon I may die.  Take your gear, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open and hunt me some game.  Then prepare a dish for me such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my innermost blessing before I die.”  Rivkah had been listening in as Yitzhak spoke to his son Eisav. When Eisav had gone out into the open to hunt game to bring home,  Rivkah said to her son Ya’akov, “I overheard your father speaking to your brother Eisav, saying,  ‘Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you, with Adonai’s approval, before I die.’  Now, my son, listen carefully as I instruct you. Go to the flock and fetch me two excellent young goats, and I will make of them a dish for your father, such as he likes.  Then take it to your father to eat, in order that he may bless you before he dies.”

Ya’akov answered his mother Rivkah, “But my brother Eisav is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned. If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing.” But his mother said to him, “Your curse, my son, be upon me! Just do as I say and go fetch them for me.” He got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a dish such as his father liked.  Rivkah then took the best clothes of her older son Eisav, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Ya’akov put them on; and she covered his hands and the hairless part of his neck with the skins of the kids.  Then she put in the hands of her son Ya’akov the dish and the bread that she had prepared.

He went to his father and said, “Father.” And he said, “Yes, which of my sons are you?” Ya’akov said to his father, “I am Eisav, your first-born; I have done as you told me. Pray sit up and eat of my game, that you may give me your innermost blessing.”  Yitzhak said to his son, “How did you succeed so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because Adonai your God granted me good fortune.”  Yitzhak said to Ya’akov, “Come closer that I may feel you, my son—whether you are really my son Eisav or not.”  So Ya’akov drew close to his father Yitzhak, who felt him and wondered. “The voice is the voice of Ya’akov, yet the hands are the hands of Eisav.”  He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Eisav; and so he blessed him.  He asked, “Are you really my son Eisav?” And when he said, “I am,”  he said, “Serve me and let me eat of my son’s game that I may give you my innermost blessing.” So he served him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank.

Then his father Yitzhak said to him, “Come close and kiss me, my son”;  and he went up and kissed him. And he smelled his clothes and he blessed him, saying, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the fields that Adonai has blessed!” [And he blessed Ya’akov:] “May God give you Of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, Abundance of new grain and wine.  Let peoples serve you, And nations bow to you; Be master over your brothers, And let your mother’s sons bow to you. Cursed be they who curse you, Blessed they who bless you.”

No sooner had Ya’akov left the presence of his father Yitzhak—after Yitzhak had finished blessing Ya’akov—than his brother Eisav came back from his hunt.  He too prepared a dish and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father sit up and eat of his son’s game, so that you may give me your innermost blessing.”

His father Yitzhak said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, Eisav, your first-born!” Yitzhak was seized with very violent trembling. “Who was it then,” he demanded, “that hunted game and brought it to me? Moreover, I ate of it before you came, and I blessed him; now he must remain blessed!”  When Eisav heard his father’s words, he burst into wild and bitter sobbing, and said to his father, “Bless me too, Father!” But he answered, “Your brother came with guile and took away your blessing.”  [Eisav] said, “Was he, then, named Ya’akov that he might supplant me these two times? First he took away my birthright and now he has taken away my blessing!” And he added, “Have you nothing left as a blessing for me?”

Yitzhak answered, saying to Eisav, “But I have made him master over you:! I have given him all his brothers for servants, and sustained him with grain and wine. What, then, can I still do for you, my son?” And Eisav said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, Father? Bless me too, Father!” And Eisav wept aloud.  And his father Yitzhak answered, saying to him, “See, your abode shall enjoy the fat of the earth And the dew of heaven above.  Yet by your sword you shall live, And you shall serve your brother; But when you grow restive, You shall break his yoke from your neck.”

Now Eisav harbored a grudge against Ya’akov because of the blessing which his father had given him, and Eisav said to himself, “Let but the mourning period of my father come, and I will kill my brother Ya’akov.”  When the words of her older son Eisav were reported to Rivkah, she sent for her younger son Ya’akov and said to him, “Your brother Eisav is consoling himself by planning to kill you.  Now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to Haran, to my brother Laban.  Stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury subsides—  until your brother’s anger against you subsides—and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will fetch you from there. Let me not lose you both in one day!”

Rivkah said to Yitzhak, “I am disgusted with my life because of the Hittite women. If Ya’akov marries a Hittite woman like these, from among the native women, what good will life be to me?”  So Yitzhak sent for Ya’akov and blessed him. He instructed him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from among the Canaanite women.   Up, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take a wife there from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother,  May El Shaddai bless you, make you fertile and numerous, so that you become an assembly of peoples.  May He grant the blessing of Abraham to you and your offspring, that you may possess the land where you are sojourning, which God assigned to Abraham.”  Then Yitzhak sent Ya’akov off, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rivkah, mother of Ya’akov and Eisav.

 

5.     

 


From www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

Ethiopian Jewry:  The Holiday of Sigd

Image result for sigd

Sigd is an Amharic word meaning "prostration" or "worship" and is the commonly used name for a holiday celebrated by the Ethiopian Jewish community on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. This date is exactly 50 days after Yom Kippur, usually falling out in late October or November, and according to Ethiopian Jewish tradition is also the date that God first revealed himself to Moses.

 

Traditionally on Sigd, members of the Ethiopian Jewish community would fast for a day during which they would meet in the morning and walk together to the highest point on a mountain. The “Kessim," spritual leaders of the community, would carry the “Orit,” the Ethiopian Torah, which is written in the ancient Ge’ez language and comprised of the Five Books of Moses, the Prophetic writings, and other writings such as Song of Songs and Psalms. The Kessim recited parts of the Orit, including the Book of Nehemiah. On that day, members of the community recited Psalms and remembered the Torah, its traditions, and their desire to return to Jerusalem. In the afternoon they would descend back to the village and break their fast, dance and rejoice in a sort of seder reminiscent of Passover.

 

The holiday symbolizes the Jewish covenant in receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai in addition to the re-acceptance of the Torah that was led by Ezra the Scribe before the construction of the Second Temple. Its date is similar to the 50 days which are counted between Passover and Shavuot when the Torah was given on Mount Sinai.

 

The Ethiopian community in Israel has been celebrating the holiday by holding a mass ceremony on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, topped with a procession to the Western Wall. Recently, the ceremony has been held in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv Promenade. Israel’s President and many other politicians usually make a formal appearance at the ceremony.

 

In February 2008, MK Uri Ariel submitted legislation to the Knesset that would see Sigd established as an Israeli national holiday. In July of that year the Knesset followed Ariel's suggestion and added Sigd to the list of State holidays. The law states that in addition to being a state holiday, Sigd would also be marked in a special assembly organized by the Ministry of Education. The holiday's history, traditions and ceremonies will be included in the educational system's curriculum and going to work during the holiday will be optional.


 

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אַחַת-עֶשְֹּרֵה

12

ֹשְתֵּים-עֶשְֹרֵה

13

ֹשְלֹש- עֶשְֹרֵה

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אַרְבַּע- עֶשְֹּרֵה

15

חֲמֵֹש-עֶשְֹרֵה

16

ֹשֵֹּש-עֶשְֹרֵה

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ֹשְבַע-עֶשְֹרֵה

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ֹשְמוֹנֶה-עֶשְֹרֵה

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תְֹּשַע-עֶשְֹרֵה

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עֶשְׂרִים

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אֶפֶס

 

 

1

אַחַת

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שְׁתַּיִם

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שָׁלוֹשׁ

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אַרְבַּע

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חָמֵשׁ

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שֵׁשׁ

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שֶׁבַע

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שְׁמוֹנֶה

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תֵּשַׁע

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עֶשֶׂר

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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