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Jewish Holidays and Commemorations

Sigd: (Sunset Sun. Nov 8 – Sundown Mon. Nov 9)

Sigd is an Ethiopian Jewish holiday celebrated on the 29th of Cheshvan, exactly 50 days after Yom Kippur. Sigd is about accepting the Torah and yearning for Israel and the Temple. Traditionally, members of the Beta Israel community fast on Sigd, read from their scriptures, recite psalms, and pray for the rebuilding of the Temple. The fast ends at midday with a feast and dancing. In Israel today, it is celebrated for an entire month leading up to the 29th of Cheshvan, and it is an opportunity to raise Ethiopian Jewish visibility and educate Israeli Jews about Beta Israel customs.

• 🧿 Host a midday fast-breaking feast featuring Ethiopian dishes like injera and doro wat. Invite an Ethiopian Jewish speaker or watch an excerpt of a documentary like 400 Miles from Sinai 
• 📖 Organize an early morning sunrise hike up a local trail or elevated park spot. Read Psalms (traditionally recited during Sigd) at the summit and end with a picnic breakfast. 
• 📖 Since Sigd is a parallel holiday to Shavuot, host a cheesecake party and explore the Book of Jubilees and the Book of Enoch, which were largely lost or abandoned by mainstream Judaism but are considered canon among the Beta Israel 
• 🧿 Watch a movie about the Beta Israel community and have a discussion.  
  • Exodus 91 (2022): A documentary about Operation Solomon, the covert 1991 airlift of Ethiopian Jews. Explores the hidden friction, bureaucratic hurdles, and deep-seated cultural biases within the Israeli establishment during the rescue efforts. 
  • With No Land (2021) Directed by Aalam-Warqe Davidian and Kobi Davidian. Shifts the narrative away from the standard hero-centric view of Israeli state rescue missions to highlight the dangerous, underground activism of Ethiopian Jews themselves. Examines the long-term marginalization and institutional neglect faced by the community after arriving 
  • Fig Tree (2018): A coming-of-age drama directed by Aalam-Warqe Davidian (released as Alamork Marsha). Set during the 1989 Ethiopian Civil War, it follows a Jewish teenager navigating her final days in Ethiopia before her family immigrates to Israel 
• 🧿 Watch a few episodes of Nevsu, an Emmy-award-winning comedy series following Gili, an Israeli man of Ethiopian-Jewish descent, and his white Ashkenazi wife, Tamar (Meyrav Feldman), as they raise their young daughter and handle their hilariously chaotic extended families 

Rosh Chodesh Kislev : (Sunset Mon, Nov. 9- Sundown on Wed, Nov. 11) 

Rosh Chodesh is a minor holiday that marks the beginning of a new month signaled by the birth of a new moon. This month is the beginning of Kislev, sometimes known as the month of dreams. Kislev is often playfully re-written as Kis-Lev (Purse of the Heart). The official zodiac sign and symbol for the month is the bow, representing both the archer and the rainbow (signifying hope and God’s covenant). 

• 🧿🌱 Play on the interpretation of Kislev as “Purse of the Heart.” Host a community dinner where each resident/guest pitches a local grassroots charity or project. Collect small donations (or use house budget) to fund the winning community project chosen by vote. 
• 🌱 Ask people to bring a gently used purse they aren’t using any more and do a swap or donate to a domestic abuse prevention shelter. 
• 🧿 Consider hosting an At the Well Rosh Chodesh Circle. 
• 📖 Use the “Sweet Dreams Are Made of These” Jewish Dreams Exploration ready-to-go program to welcome Kislev, the month of dreams! 
• 🧿🌱 Paint a rainbow-themed community mural. Ask around at local businesses and see if they want one of their walls decorated. 

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Torah Portions

Saturday, Nov. 7: Chayyei Sarah (“The Life of Sarah”)

In this Torah portion, Sara dies at the age of 127. Abraham searches for a place to bury her and settles on Machpelah. Abraham searches for a wife for his son, Isaac. Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for Isaac. The servant meets Rebecca at a well, where she provides water for him and his camels. Abraham marries Keturah and has six more sons. He then dies at the age of 175. 

• In rabbinic tradition, Isaac represents the Jewish community and Ishmael represents the Muslim community. At the end of this portion, the two communities come together to bury their father, the one who had caused all their family strife. In honor of this reconciliation, here are some ideas for Jewish-Muslim bonding: 
  • Search for Sadaqa organizations near you – the word comes from the same root as Tzedakah! 
  • Attend a public lecture from an Islamic education organization near you 
  • Host a clothing drive for a local Muslim Children’s Organization  
• 📖 Inspired by the cave of Machpelah, go on a spelunking adventure and enjoy a cave picnic while learning about caves and caverns in Jewish tradition. 
• 🌱 Inspired by Rebecca offering water to Abraham’s servant and camels, organize a community hydration and hygiene drive. Assemble care packages with reusable water bottles, socks, and toiletries to donate to a local unhoused shelter. 
• 🧿 Lean into the portion’s themes of finding a partner. Host a low-stakes “Shabbat Matchmaking” evening focused on dynamic icebreakers to help house guests find new friends, mentors, or romantic connections in the community. 
• 📖 Go on a Jewish Cemetary clean up/scavenger hunt learning day. 

Saturday, Nov. 14: Toldot (“Generations”) 

Rebecca and Isaac have twins, the smooth-skinned Jacob, whom Rebecca favors, and the hairy Esau, who Isaac favors. After returning from a hunting trip, Esau asks his brother for some lentil soup, but Jacob tells him he must trade him his birthright. Years later, when Isaac is old and blind, Jacob tricks their father into giving him the firstborn blessing. Jacob leaves home, fearing his brother will retaliate, and finds a wife at his uncle Laban’s house. 

• 🧿 Hold a Twins Party where everyone comes dressed as one of a famous pair of twins (Tia and Tamera Mowry, James and Oliver Phelps, Chang and Eng Bunker…). Decorate with fun facts about twins in Jewish tradition! (Did you know Scarlett and Hunter Johansson are Jewish twins??) 
• 🧿 Hire a barber or hair stylist to come to your house for an all-day free-haircut extravaganza. Will you end up hairy like Esau or smooth like Jacob?  
• 🧿🌱 Learn about blindness in Jewish tradition while volunteering with a local blind advocacy organization. 
• 🧿 🌱 Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of red lentil stew. Host a competitive lentil soup cook-off. Pair the meal with a facilitated conversation about how immediate needs can affect long-term decision-making.  Use this soup/stew resource sheet.  

Saturday, Nov. 21: Parashat Vayetzei (“And [Jacob] Went Out”) 

In this Torah portion, Jacob has a dream in which angels go up and down a ladder connecting earth to heaven. God appears before Jacob and renews the covenant that God had made with Abraham. Jacob sees Rachel, Laban’s daughter, tending sheep and wishes to marry her. Laban tricks Jacob into marrying his eldest daughter, Leah, after seven years of labor. In exchange for another seven years of work, Jacob is allowed to marry Rachel. Jacob has many sons with Leah, but Rachel is unable to conceive. Finally, God blesses Rachel, and she has a son, whom she names Joseph. 

• 🧿 📖Grounded in Jacob’s dream of the ladder connecting Earth and Heaven, host an evening under the stars (or around a fire pit) exploring Jewish mysticism, dream interpretation in the Talmud, and grounding practices (meditation, hitbodedut, kabbalah). 
• 📖 Use the “Sweet Dreams Are Made of These” Jewish Dreams Exploration ready-to-go program to welcome Kislev, the month of dreams! 
• 📖 Many Jewish young adults don’t learn about Jewish wedding traditions, many of which come from this parsha, until they’re getting ready for their own! Host a Stuff You Should Know program about Jewish weddings over a delicious lamb dinner.  Use this resource sheet.
• 🌱 Jacob works 14 years under Laban’s shifting conditions. Host a Shabbat dinner discussion around modern worker rights, fair wages, and ethical labor standards through a Jewish lens 

Saturday, Nov. 28: Parashat Vayishlach (“And [Jacob] Sent”) 

In this Torah portion, God tells Jacob to return home. Worried that his brother Esau will kill him, Jacob divides his clan into two camps, so at least some will survive in case of a fight. Jacob sleeps alone in the desert and is awoken by an angel who wrestles him through the night. Jacob survives and is blessed by the angel and renamed Israel. Jacob meets his brother and, surprisingly, they embrace. Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, sleeps with Shekhem, who then proposes to Jacob that he marry her. Shimeon and Levi brutally murder Shekhem and his clan. Rachel has another child, whom she and Jacob name Benjamin. 

• 📖 Watch some iconic pro wrestling matches while learning about the Jewish wisdom of second naivete  
• 📖 Learn about the Palestinian city of Nablus, traditionally associated with biblical Shekhem, the lives of the Samaritans and Palestinians who live there, and the archeological research at nearby Tel Balata. 
• 🧿 Jacob wrestles with an angel and earns the name Yisrael (“One who strives with God”). Host a workshop led by a local mediator or facilitator on healthy conflict resolution, navigating difficult political/interpersonal conversations, and “wrestling” with tough aspects of Jewish identity.

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Secular Celebrations and Remembrances

Native American Heritage Month  

• 🌱 Use this interactive map to learn the Native groups who were the original stewards of the land you now live on and 
• 🧿 Host a traditional book club featuring Two Tribes, a graphic novel by Jewish and Muscogee-Jewish writer and artist Emily Bowen Cohen 
• 🧿 Or, host a no-prep book club featuring her comics! 
• 🧿 Cook a dinner centered on the traditional Native American agricultural method of planting corn, beans, and squash together (“The Three Sisters”). Discuss agricultural wisdom, land stewardship, and Jewish values around Shmita and environmental care. 

Nov. 1 (Sun): National Cinnamon Day 

• 🧿 📖 Bake sweet cinnamon babka from scratch. While the dough rises, host a workshop learning about the ancient spice trade, the role of cinnamon in the Biblical temple incense, and blend your own custom cinnamon spice mixes for Havdalah. 
• 🧿 Host a Sunday morning lounge with a cinnamon toast bar, Mexican hot chocolate, and a casual text study on the comfort foods of different Jewish diaspora communities.  

Nov. 1-7: National Animal Shelter Week  

• 🌱 Volunteer at your local animal shelter by walking or socializing animals from the shelter. Discuss this service learning. Look at the animals of Noah’s Ark with this resource sheet.
• 🌱 Focus on the Jewish commandment of Tza’ar Ba’alei Chayim (preventing cruelty to animals). Host an afternoon where residents make DIY rope toys/fleece blankets for a local animal shelter and collect pet food donations. 

• Host a “Cat & Coffee” morning where community members can share photos and stories of their pets—a great way to build social bonds. 
• 🌱 Organize a supply drive for a local animal shelter, collecting food, toys, or blankets for cats in need. 

Sept 1 (Tue): Labor Day (CA/US) 

• 🧿 Host a non-partisan “Post-Vote Chill Out” space with comfort food. Decorate tables with info about Dina D’Malchuta Dina (the law of the land) and the Jewish historical imperative of participating in civic life. 
• Set up a screen for election results alongside low-stress activities like adult coloring, origami, and snack stations to keep the vibe supportive and grounded.  

Nov. 4 (Wed): Anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin’s Assassination 

• Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister of Israel, was assassinated on 4 November 1995 by Yigal Amir, an Israeli law student and far-right ultranationalist who radically opposed the Oslo Accords and Rabin’s peace initiative more broadly. 
• 🧿 Learn about Israeli and Palestinian organizations working towards peace today like Combatants for Peace, Women of the Sun, and Standing Together. 
• 🧿 Learn about Jewish organizations like Smol Emuni and the ADL’s Center on Extremism working to counter radical tendencies in the far-right Jewish community 
• 📖 Host a solemn memorial and discussion on Rabin’s legacy, the danger of political extremism, and how to build democratic dialogue within polarized communities. Focus on the value of machloket l’shem shamayim – arguments for the sake of Heaven. 
• 🧿 Organize an acoustic song circle featuring Israeli peace songs and discuss the role of music in Israeli social movements. 

Nov. 6 (Fri): National Nachos Day 

• 🧿 Host a casual “Nacho Shabbat” with a massive build-your-own nacho bar 
• 🧿 Cook or order in Mexican for an awesome Mexican Shabbat and learn about the rich history of Jewish Mexican communities.   

Nov. 8 (Sun): National Cappuccino Day 

• 🧿 Honoring both Sigd and National Cappuccino Day, showcase modern Ethiopian-Israeli culture through a listening session, paired with an Ethiopian coffee ceremony. 
• 🧿 Turn your living room into an Italian-style espresso bar. Serve hand-crafted cappuccinos while running a “Café Talmud” session where participants pair up (chevruta) to study short, engaging Jewish texts. 
• 🧿 Host an early morning coffee bar paired with a guided meditation on the Modeh Ani prayer and starting the day with intentional gratitude. 
• 🧿 Explore the intersection between Judaism and coffee as you enjoy some caffeinated beverages at your local coffee shop or right in your MH living room 
• 🌱 earn about the global coffee supply chain. Host a tasting of fair-trade kosher coffees while discussing Jewish business ethics, worker rights, and conscious consumerism. 

Nov. 9-10 (Mon-Tue): Anniversary of Kristallnacht 

• 🧿 Commemorate Kristallnacht by examining modern antisemitism and hate crimes. Host an educational workshop on how young adults can respond to hate, build interfaith coalitions, and stand up as allies for other targeted groups. 
• 🧿 🌱Make art out of recycled glass and reflect on the resilience of Jewish life 
• 🧿 Gather for a quiet evening memorial. Light Yahrzeit candles, read testimonies or poetry from Holocaust survivors, and hold a facilitated reflection space on historical memory. 

Nov. 11 (Wed): Canadian Remembrance Day and US Veterans Day  

• 🌱Host a Jewish veteran or a Jewish military chaplain to speak with your community about their work. Write notes and make care packages for veterans. Volunteer with Jewish War Veterans  
• 📖 Host a lunch-and-learn exploring the history of Jewish military service—from Jewish soldiers in the American Civil War and WWII to the founding of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA (JWV). 

Nov. 12 (Thu): National Chicken Soup for the Soul Day

• 🧿🌱 Use this ready to go Community Soup Kitchen program and make chicken soup for your community members. Learn how this small act helps embody the value of chesed (loving-kindness) 
• 🧿 Host a cozy open-mic night where guests share personal stories, poetry, or essays that nourished their souls during difficult times 
• 🧿 Learn about Chicken Soup and Bubbie’s Matzah Balls and make your own soup. 

Nov. 13 (Fri): World Kindness Day 

• 🌱 Join Sharsheret’s Pies for Prevention bake sale and help raise awareness about ovarian cancer and support women and families affected by the disease. Email mtochner@sharsheret.org for more info. 
• 🧿 Invite community members over to pre-make birthday cards for each other using this Jewish card-making craft program 
• 🧿 🌱 Challenge your community to a 24-hour “Kindness Challenge.” Gather at the house to write uplifting chalk messages on city sidewalks, leave paid coffee gift cards at local shops, and bake cookies for neighborhood first responders. This resource sheet might help.
• 🧿 Before candle-lighting, have guests write anonymous “Shabbat Shalom” notes of appreciation for each other; read a few aloud during the meal. 
• 🌱 Replace a typical hostess gift with a “kindness kiddush” — guests donate what they’d have spent on wine/flowers to a cause of the house’s choosing, then bless the pooled gift together. 

Nov. 14 (Sat): National Pickle Day  

• 🧿 Host a pickling event and learn about the intersection of Judaism and pickling 
• 🧿 Include pickles in your Shabbat appetizers and over a dvar torah framing fermentation (patience, transformation, waiting for something to become what it’s meant to be) as a metaphor for Shabbat’s own slow, unhurried pace. 
• 🧿 Are you in a pickle? Serve a giant pickle platter for Shabbat afternoon while facilitating a game of ethical “trolley problems” and Jewish moral dilemmas, using Talmudic reasoning to debate tricky real-world scenarios. 

Nov. 14 (Sat): World Diabetes Day

• 🧿 In alignment with this year’s “Early Action on Diabetes” theme, host a nutritionist or chef to teach a low-glycemic, diabetic-friendly Jewish cooking workshop (e.g., cauliflower kugel, almond-flour challah). 
• 🌱 Partner with a local health advocacy group to share educational materials on early screening, and host a wellness walking event to raise awareness and funds for diabetes research. 

Nov. 15 (Sun): Kosher Butcher Day 

• 🧿 On this day in 1660, the first kosher butcher was licensed in New York City. Celebrate by hosting your own meaty meal or having brunch at a kosher restaurant. 
• 📖 Learn about organizations working to make kosher meat less industrial and more humane. Order kosher bacon, or make steak & eggs from ethical suppliers and try it out for yourself.  
• 🧿 Host an upscale evening featuring a curated board of kosher cured meats, artisanal kosher delicacies, and kosher wine pairings, complete with a lesson on the history of kosher butchery in America. 

Nov. 17 (Tue): National Take a Hike Day

• 🧿 Go on a hike in your area and use our ready-to-go Hitbodedut for Heshvan program!  
• 🌱 Trail Clean Up – clean up a trail as you hike or join a local trail maintenance group. Learn about Leave No Trace values and Jewish values  

Nov. 17 (Tue): Danny DeVito’s Birthday 

• 🧿 Watch a Danny DeVito classic movie like Matilda (1996), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Ruthless People (1986), Hercules (1997), or The Lorax (2012). Ask your JLS for suggestions on adding a Jewish culture twist! 
• 🧿 Host a “It’s Always Sunny in Moishe House” night where you screen favorite episodes while enjoying Philly-style snacks like hoagies, water ice, and soft pretzels. 

Nov. 20 (Fri): Transgender Day of Remembrance 

• 📖🌱 Host a text study examining classical Rabbinic literature on gender diversity (e.g., the 6 genders recognized in the Talmud). Pair this with a fundraiser or resource drive for a local LGBTQ+ youth shelter or Trans emergency relief fund. 
• 🧿 Invite a local Jewish trans activist to speak to about recent wins and challenges in your community 
• 🧿📖 TDOR Vigil: Hold a solemn evening circle honoring the lives of trans individuals lost to violence. Read poetry by trans Jewish authors and create a space for reflection and allyship. 
• 🧿 Host a trans-focused Kabbalat Shabbat. Open with candle-lighting dedicated to memory, use liturgy written by transgender Jews, and close the evening with Mourner’s Kaddish before moving into the meal. 
• 🌱 Work with an LGBTQ+ organization or a Women’s Shelter in your area. Many organizations support individuals who have faced gender-based violence and aid those transitioning without support or access to go through this process safely. To help, you can always write cards to those who work at those organizations, create hygiene and care kits, as well as connecting with these organizations to see what they need.  

Nov. 20 (Fri): World Children’s Day 

• 🌱 Mark the anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by hosting a packing party for a local women and children’s domestic violence shelter. Gather essential supplies, write warm notes, and feature a guest speaker from a local advocacy organization. 
• 🧿 Build a “blessing the children” ritual into the Shabbat meal itself. Many Shabbat tables include a parent’s blessing over their kids; invite residents to write and exchange blessings for the children they’re supporting through the shelter donation, making the absent children present at the table in a small way. 
• 🧿🌱 Host a Kids’ Shabbat featuring foods you loved when you were little. Over the meal, raise the Jewish tradition’s own strong protections for children. End the meal with a short, concrete commitment — e.g., the group picks one local children’s charity to support that month. 

Nov. 22 (Sun): Start of Sagittarius Season 

• 📖 Explore the history of Jewish astrology and mosaic zodiacs found in ancient synagogues.  Learn about Jews and Zodiac with this sheet.
• 🧿 Celebrate the fire-element sign of Sagittarius with a backyard fire pit Havdalah the night before, stargazing, and s’mores.
• 🧿 Sags are represented by the symbol of an archer. Take your community to a local archery range (or rage room or axe-throwing event) and learn about archery in Jewish history 

Nov. 25 (Wed): International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women  

• 🫂🌱 – Volunteer with a Women’s Shelter or Clinic or with an organization working to eliminate domestic violence or supporting survivors 
• 🌱 – Write letters with Survived and Punished to criminalized survivors of domestic violence and sexual violence 
• 📖Facilitate a thoughtful, sensitive text study examining problematic texts in Jewish scripture involving women (e.g., Dinah in Parashat Vayishlach) and how modern commentators use feminist theology to critique and reinterpret them. 
• Other orgs to check out:  
  • https://takebackthenight.org/  
  • https://www.nsvrc.org/  

Nov. 26 (Thu): US Thanksgiving Day

• 🧿🌱 Host a Friendsgiving: Moishe House Style with this ready to go program 
• 🌱 Participate in a charity run in your area 
• 🌱 Put the Giving back into Friends/Thanksgiving: Volunteer at a local food pantry or homeless shelter 

Nov. 27 (Fri): Buy Nothing Day

• 🌱 Instead of Black Friday shopping, hold a “Clothing & Book Swap” at the house. Remaining items get donated to a local charity, directly addressing overconsumption 
• 🧿📖🌱 Host a clothing swap with your community. Use the program plan from last months Shabbat Shuva/Clothing Swap. Contact your JLS to talk about how to adapt the framing for the Torah learning element for your event 
• 🧿 Host an upcycling Shabbat! Invite handy community members to help repair broken household items, mend clothes, or repurpose trash into art, accompanied by an informal chat about anti-consumerism in Jewish thought. 
• 🧿🌱 Frame Shabbat itself as “the original Buy Nothing Day” and host a no-spend potluck using only items already in people’s homes! Open with a short conversation about Shabbat’s built-in resistance to commerce. 

Nov. 28 (Sat): Jon Stewart’s Birthday 

• 🧿 Host a screening and discussion on Jewish humor in modern pop culture, using Jon Stewart’s political satire to discuss how humor has served as a Jewish survival mechanism. 
• 🧿 Screen classic Jon Stewart clips along with discussion on the role of satire, political commentary, and Tochecha (rebuke/speaking truth to power) in Jewish culture 
• 🧿 Have a stand-up comedy open-mic night at the house for local young adult comedians 

Nov. 29 (Sun): Anniversary of the Adoption of the UN Partition Plan 

• 📖 Host an educational seminar exploring the history of UN Resolution 181 (the 1947 Partition Plan) examining historical documents, the geopolitical context, and diverse Jewish responses to the vote 
• Learn about organizations working for a two-state solution, such as J Street and Shalom Achshav. 
• Learn about democratic alternatives to the two-state solution such as those proposed by A Land for All 

Nov. 30 (Mon): National Mason Jar Day

• 🧿🌱 Use this ready to go Community Soup Kitchen program send people home with jars of dry soup mix. If you can jar it, you can do it!  

Compiled by Annie Prusky, with contributions made by Abbey London, Rabbi Rachael Pass, and Rabbi Shari Shamah