Sigd as a Story of Belonging, Community, and Hope
Lecturer, writer and strategic consultant for identity-based leadership. Accompanying organizations, managers and communities in a process that transforms identity, roots and life experience from a source of concealment or friction - to a source of presence, belonging, leadership and impact.
How can a longing for Jerusalem, carried for generations through the villages of Ethiopia, become a new language today for belonging, community, and a shared home?
Sigd is far more than a date on the calendar.
It is the story of a community that carried a dream for generations: a longing for Jerusalem held in the villages of Ethiopia; faith passed from father to daughter, from mother to child, and from one community to the next generation; a memory that did not remain in the past, but became a compass.
In this talk, Fentay connects her personal story—the journey from Ethiopia through Sudan to Israel—with the wider meaning of Sigd for Israeli society as a whole.
Through the story of Ethiopian Jewry, a deep conversation opens about longing, roots, faith, strength, community, and the ability to build a sense of home even as reality changes and home cannot be taken for granted.
This is not only a talk about heritage.
It is a talk about Israel today.
About how collective memory can become a unifying force.
About how different identities can meet without being erased.
And about the possibility of building a shared home here—not through uniformity, but through recognition, listening, and belonging.
Fentay Maharat-Alamu's debut novel returns to the world of the women of the House of Israel in Ethiopia - to roots, memory, scars and female strength. Leave details to receive first updates on the release of the book, pre-purchase, premium edition and launch events.
