Welcome to Diaspora-Israel Day – a worldwide festival of Jewish Peoplehood on the 7th of Cheshvan! We invite you to celebrate your partnership in the wider Jewish world and to mark the deep bond between Jewish communities around the globe and between these communities and Israel – a bond that has lasted for thousands of years.
For thousands of years Jews have lived around the world, scattered across five continents. The relationships among the Jews in each place where they settled, and between these places and the Land of Israel, underwent numerous and diverse changes over the generations. Throughout the centuries, a complex and rich dialogue has been maintained between all Jewish communities, creating a delicate and unique thread that binds Jews living in different parts of the world.
Diaspora Israel Day, which was initiated by project Domim-aLike – a joint program of the Israeli Reform movement and the Israeli government, is a holiday celebrating the ongoing connections between Jewish communities worldwide, and the continues sense of peoplehood among them. The festival cherishes thousands of years of united and full Jewish life in different locations around the world.
We believe that these special bonds between Jewish communities across the globe, which have been persevered against all odds and despite all differences, is a true cause for celebration. On this coming 7th of Cheshvan – October 13th 2021 – we invite you to celebrate with us Diaspora Israel Day.
How can you join the celebration?
download the festive tractate that was created especially for the new holiday.
This collection suggests a variety texts, songs, prayers and activities related to Jewish Peoplehood. You can then decide how to incorporate Diaspora Israel Day in your community: either by adding one of the texts to your Shabbat service, by initiating a video conference with a partner congregation and studying the texts together, or by having a full event based on the Diaspora Israel Day tractate.
We wish all of you a meaningful Diaspora Israel Day!
Watch some of the celebration held in congregations around the world
7th of Cheshvan
”Rabban Gamliel – on the seventh of the same month, namely, fifteen days after the feast of tabernacles, in order that the last Israelites might have reached the river Euphrates.” (Mishna, Ta’anit, 1:3)
The Sages of the Mishna set two separate days for beginning to recite prayers for rain in the drought-prone Land of Israel. The “mentioning of rain” begins on Shemini Atseret (the Eighth Day of Assembly at the end of Sukkot), while the “plea for rain” is recited from the 7th day of Cheshvan. As the passage from Ta’anit explains, the purpose of this two-stage process was to ensure that Jewish pilgrims from Babylon who had been visiting the Land of Israel for Sukkot, would be able to return home without having rain catch them during their journey.
Diaspora Israel day Tractate
A collection of texts, songs, prayers and activities for celebrating Diaspora Israel Day.
Diaspora Israel Day is the opportunity for your community to celebrate Jewish life around the world and the strong bonds between Jews in all their residence. In order for your community to have a meaningful Diaspora Israel Day celebration, we have prepared a special Festival Tractate – a beautiful collection of texts, songs, poems and ideas for discussion and activity.
The five chapters of the tractate take us through the unique story of the Jewish people, with the perspective of the remarkable connections between Jews around the world: Lech Lecha / Land of Longing / Jewish Mutual Responsibility / Jerusalem and Babylon / The Covenant of Destiny and Jewish Fate. In between the chapters, a festive community meal is integrated.
Have some Marzipan
There is no Jewish holiday without a special designated food attached to it! Marzipan was chosen as the key symbolic food item for Diaspora Israel Day because of its sweet taste and the Jewish memories and contexts it embodies. The flexible texture of marzipan, and the flexible way it has been made and used in different cultural settings, mean that different shapes and flavors can be encountered in almost every Jewish community around the world.
