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Haymanot · ሃይማኖት

The other Ethiopian inheritance

Haymanot, faith, is the Judaism of the Beta Israel, the Jews of Ethiopia. It is Torah-centred and priest-led, and it grew apart from the rabbinic tradition: it keeps the festivals Scripture gives and not the later additions, and it holds Enoch and Jubilees — the same priestly books the Tewahedo church kept on the Christian side.

Cheshvan 8, 5787 Anno Mundi

Monday · Mon, 19 Oct 2026

Ordinary day

Monday is a traditional fast day for the kessim and the devout.

The day runs sunset to sunset; this names its daylight part.

What is coming

  • 9Novሰግድ Sigd, the day of covenantCheshvan 29, 5787 · fasted until the reading · Mehlella; a national holiday in Israel
  • 11Decጾመ ጥቤት The fast of TevetTevet 1, 5787 · 10 days
  • 20Marጾመ አስቴር The fast of EstherAdar II 11, 5787 · 3 days
  • 8Aprበዓለ ልሳን Ba’al Lisan, the New Year of springNisan 1, 5787
  • 21Aprጾመ በኵር The fast of the firstbornNisan 14, 5787
  • 22Aprፋሲካ Fasika, the PassoverNisan 15, 5787 · 7 days · Pesach
  • 16Junጾመ መዓረር The harvest fast, the eve of Ma’rarSivan 11, 5787
  • 17Junመዓረር Ma’rar, the Feast of the HarvestSivan 12, 5787 · Shavuot, kept on the twelfth, not the sixth
  • 6Julጾመ ታሙዝ The fast of TammuzTammuz 1, 5787 · 10 days
  • 4Augጾመ አብ The fast of AvAv 1, 5787 · 17 days

The shape of it

The Orit ኦሪት
Scripture is read in Ge’ez from the Orit, the Octateuch: the five books of Moses with Joshua, Judges and Ruth. The wider library holds Enoch and Jubilees, and the Commandments of the Sabbath.
The kessim ካህናት
Worship is led not by rabbis but by priests, the kessim or kahen, under a high priest, the Liqä Kahənat. The priest slaughters his own meat and keeps the people in ritual purity: a living memory of the Temple order.
Sanbat ሰንበት
The Sabbath is the heart of the week, kept strictly from Friday sunset to Saturday night, and honoured in the tradition as a queen and a bride.
Sigd ሰግድ
The great distinctive feast, on the twenty-ninth of Cheshvan, fifty days after the Day of Atonement. The community fasts and climbs a high place, the kessim read the Orit, and the covenant is renewed in longing for Zion. In Israel today Sigd is a national holiday.

Where it parts from rabbinic Judaism: Hanukkah and Purim are not kept, because they are not in the Torah; the Feast of the Harvest falls on the twelfth of Sivan and not the sixth; and there is no oral law standing beside Scripture. The Beta Israel books we hold are in the library, on the Beta Israel shelf.