Why did they weep?
The author/s of this memoir, whether it’s Nehemiah himself or whoever wrote in his voice a few hundred years later did not tell us what was the actual Torah text read aloud to the gathered people in Jerusalem on that first fateful Torah Reading Ritual we just encountered in the previous chapter. Did Ezra read aloud the entire five books of Moses as we know them now? Did he have another version? The authors didn’t specify which scriptures but did bother telling us that at some point the people wept. Their tears made it into posterity - although we don’t know the precise reason for their pains.
Were they upset about their errant ways of life that veered so far away from the laws of their ancestors? Did they weep because they were moved by the momentous occasion and its significance? Was it that the new laws they were given were much too harsh than what they signed up for?
Somehow they were soothed, sent home to feast and celebrate, and then come back the next day, and day after day for at least a week - to hear more Torah read aloud and to continue celebrating their sacred story and the renewed holiday of Sukkot.
But then the tears return.
Chapter 9 picks up where the previous one leaves us - 24 days later. It consists of a long prayer led by the Levites that combines historical overview of the journey of the people of Israel from Egypt to the promised land, and to the current state of complicated existence on their land, and a plea for divine mercy. It’s interesting to read this early historical narrative with its highs and lows.
The tone of the gathering shifted from joy to guilt and from celebration and unity to concern - and separation. The feast becomes a fast:
וּבְיוֹם֩ עֶשְׂרִ֨ים וְאַרְבָּעָ֜ה לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֗ה נֶאֶסְפ֤וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ בְּצ֣וֹם וּבְשַׂקִּ֔ים וַאֲדָמָ֖ה עֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ וַיִּבָּֽדְלוּ֙ זֶ֣רַע יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מִכֹּ֖ל בְּנֵ֣י נֵכָ֑ר וַיַּעַמְד֗וּ וַיִּתְוַדּוּ֙ עַל־חַטֹּ֣אתֵיהֶ֔ם וַעֲוֺנ֖וֹת אֲבֹתֵיהֶֽם׃ וַיָּק֙וּמוּ֙ עַל־עׇמְדָ֔ם וַֽיִּקְרְא֗וּ בְּסֵ֨פֶר תּוֹרַ֧ת יְהֹוָ֛ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֖ם רְבִעִ֣ית הַיּ֑וֹם וּרְבִעִית֙ מִתְוַדִּ֣ים וּמִֽשְׁתַּחֲוִ֔ים לַיהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃ וַיָּ֜קׇם עַֽל־מַֽעֲלֵ֣ה הַלְוִיִּ֗ם יֵשׁ֨וּעַ וּבָנִ֜י קַדְמִיאֵ֧ל שְׁבַנְיָ֛ה בֻּנִּ֥י שֵׁרֵבְיָ֖ה בָּנִ֣י כְנָ֑נִי וַֽיִּזְעֲקוּ֙ בְּק֣וֹל גָּד֔וֹל אֶל־יְהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃
On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the Israelites assembled, fasting, in sackcloth, and with earth upon them.
Those of the stock of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
Standing in their places, they read from the scroll of the Teaching of the YHWH their God for one-fourth of the day, and for another fourth they confessed and prostrated themselves before the YHWH their God.
On the raised platform of the Levites stood Jeshua and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried in a loud voice to YHWH their God.
Nehemiah 9:1-4
This date falls right after the week-long Sukkot holiday - marking the end of the harvest gathering. In this case, the celebration ends with another public gathering that reinforces the separation between Judeans and non-Judeans. This may be a clue to what is coming next - the reclaiming and renewal (or invention) of a communal covenant. The building of national identity will include these attempts by the leadership, despite some popular resistance, to limit assimilation with the local people.
A few of the names of the Levites in this list are familiar from the previous chapter - they were already on the stage that Ezra built, part of the ritual performance. But where is Ezra here? It’s unclear what exactly this fast day is about and what is the purpose of this fast and gathering. It seems to prepare the people for the covenant that they will commit to in the next chapter -- a future deal with God, despite the many ways the community falls short.
And although Jewish history did not preserve this 24th day of the 7th month as an official fast day - this solemn gathering did make it onto the calendar of one important Jewish community -- Beta Yisrael - the Ethiopian Jewish Community. The central holiday of this community, once celebrated as a pilgrimage to tall mountains and today taking place in Jerusalem - is Sigd ስግድ, which in Amharic means 'Prostration' or ‘supplication’.
Celebrated 50 days after Yom Kippur, on the 29th day of the 8th month of Heshvan, Sigd is not exactly on the 24th day of Tishrei as the gathering described in today’s chapter - but is modeled after this gathering and directly refers to it in its liturgy and choice of scriptural passages that are read aloud to this day.
Historians are unsure about the origin of the holiday in its current format, some dating it back to the 6th century CE and some to the 15th century CE but either way it is represents a rare continuity of a religious ritual that was echoes the narratives of Nehemiah and preserves the power of the people’s annual commitment to renew their ancestral vows and repeat their covenant.
In their book Ethiopian Jews and Israel, anthropologists Michael Ashkenazi and Alex Weingrod trace some of the holidays’ history and evolution from Ethiopia to Jerusalem, quoting one of the community’s elders:
“Our fathers in the land of the exile… suffered and learned lessons from their suffering. They appealed to God in fasting, prayers, and prostration, to warn the people not to stray from the Haymanot [the laws and basic principles of belief among Beta Israel], to listen to the warnings of the Torah because of the destruction of Jerusalem. Therefore, they imitated the gathering, as was done by Ezra and Neḥemiah, that this goal should not be lost, and that it not only be for one time, but rather every year.”
On the morning of Sigd, the communities in Ethiopia would traditionally climb a nearby mountain, in a procession that includes the Beta Yisrael version of the Torah - known as the Orit, or Octateuch - which contains the first five books of Moses plus the Books of Joshua, Judges - and Ruth. Following a series of prayers, several texts from the Orit and the rest of the Bible are chanted aloud in Ge’ez - sometimes with simultaneous translation. The readings include the Revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai as described in the Book of Exodus - and chapter 9 of Nehemiah.
This is the only Jewish tradition that includes texts from Ezra-Nehemiah as part of the ceremonial public reading.
So why did they weep on those days in Jerusalem? Perhaps for reasons not so different from the tears shed in the holy land today, by so many who were born there, moved there, love the land and call it home.
The people of Yihud conclude their prayer with taking responsibility for their past actions, with a protest against their condition, a jab at God, a deep sigh, and a plea for help:
וּתְבוּאָתָ֣הּ מַרְבָּ֗ה לַמְּלָכִ֛ים אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥תָּה עָלֵ֖ינוּ בְּחַטֹּאותֵ֑ינוּ וְעַ֣ל גְּ֠וִיֹּתֵ֠ינוּ מֹשְׁלִ֤ים וּבִבְהֶמְתֵּ֙נוּ֙ כִּרְצוֹנָ֔ם וּבְצָרָ֥ה גְדֹלָ֖ה אֲנָֽחְנוּ׃
On account of our sins the land yields its abundant crops to kings whom You have set over us. They rule over our bodies and our beasts as they please, and we are in great distress.
Nehemiah 9:3
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