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Jewish Calendar

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    History of the Jewish Calendar

    • The creation of all calendars is determined by the sun, moon and stars. The way a 24-hour day and the seasons of the year are calculated is based on the sun and the movement of the earth around it. The solar calendar (Gregorian) depicts the position of the earth as it revolves around the sun, defining a year of 365 days, to which an extra day is added in leap years.

      Lunar calendars, based on the Moon's rotation around the Earth, count the months of 29-30 days. This determines the lunar year which is - by ten or more days - shorter than the corresponding solar year of 365 days. The Jewish calendar, as a lunar calendar, determines the months by taking into account the phases of the moon. The Hebrew calendar is lunar and solar and combines the phases of the moon with the solar cycle. This means that the month is based on the phases of the Moon and the year, every 2-3 years, is aligned with the solar cycle through the addition of a piston month. The Hebrew calendar is based on the 19-year cycle of Metonus, including 12 years of 12 months and 7 leap years of 13 months.

      The Jewish calendar is directly linked to Jewish tradition and religion. In the creation narrative, in the Bible, it is stated “He came in the evening, he came in the morning - first day”. In the Jewish calendar, the day begins at sunset and ends when three stars appear in the sky. And so, all Jewish holidays begin at sunset on the previous day. This is referred to as the first day of the festival, “Erev”, and means the eve. For example, if the dates of Rosh Hashanah are September 29-30, then the holiday begins at sundown on September 28 (erev Rosh Hashanah) and ends when three stars come out, on the evening of September 30.

      (source: Jewish Community of Thessaloniki)

      Solar Lunar Calendars

      The waxing and waning of the moon roughly divides time into periods of 29–30 days. As a result, the lunar year is about 10 or more days shorter than the solar year of 365 days. This means that there is a difference of approximately 11 days between the lunar and solar year, which is offset by the inclusion of leap years that contain 13 months. A notable difference between the Gregorian calendar and the Hebrew calendar is the way in which days are counted. In the Hebrew calendar, the day begins at sunset. Thus, Saturday (Shabbat) begins at the moment the sun sets on Friday evening and ends when the sun sets the next day, on Saturday evening.

      On the left is a copy of a Jewish calendar from 1831

    • Reading Jewish Dates

      The Jewish dates are read from right to left, starting with the day of the month, followed by the name of the month and the Jewish Year.

      For Example: ט״ו בניסן תש״פ
      Read from right to left:
      ט״ו = 15 (day of the month)
      בניסן= in Nisan (name of the Hebrew month)
      תש״פ = 5780 (Hebrew year)
      So in English, it would be: 15th of Nisan, 5780

      The numbers are represented by the Hebrew letters of the alef-bet (alphabet).

      Chronology

      According to Jewish tradition, the Jewish calendar counts years from the creation of the world.

      The Hebrew calendar begins in 3761 BC, so we are already in the 6th millennium.

      The current year, for the Jewish calendar, is recorded as 5785.

      Start of the Year

      The current year (2025) is 5785 in the Jewish calendar.

      The religious calendar begins in the month of Nissan, as this is when Passover (Pesach), a milestone for Jews, is celebrated.

    • Guide to the Jewish calendar, copy, 18th century, Jewish Museum Prague

  • Leap Years

    • Years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 of the Metonic cycle are considered leap years. As a mnemonic rule of this sequence, some people use the Hebrew word GUCHADZaT (גוחאדז״ט), where the Hebrew letters gimel-vav-het aleph-dalet-zayin-tet are used as Hebrew numbers equivalent to 3, 6, 8, 1, 4, 7, 9.

      The keviyah indicates whether a year is common or leap year. The letter פ is used for peshuta (פשוטה), which means ‘simple’ and denotes a common year, while the letter מ corresponds to me'uberet (מעוברת), meaning "emblematic", and denotes a leap year.

  • Seasons

  • Months


    • Greek motif (Sun chariot), the four seasons (turning points), equinoxes-solstices, months with their Hebrew name
      Mosaic paving in a synagogue, Beit Alpha - Israel, 6th century

    • Historical information

      In the Jewish calendar the month began with the new moon and lasted 29 or 30 days.

      Names of months

      Originally, no names were used for the months (Genesis 7:11). Until the Babylonian captivity they used the Canaanite names and towards the end of the reign they used numbers (1st, 2nd...).

      During the Hellenistic period the Macedonian names (Dystros, Xanthios) began to be used. In the time of Jesus, Roman names were established, from which the current names of the Greek calendar are derived.

      The months and their duration - The Importance of the Embolism Month

      A Jewish month always begins with the new moon. According to the orbit of the moon, a month may consist of 29 or 30 days.

      The calendar contains 12 months, but in leap years an extra month is added, resulting in a total of 13 months in a year. This extra month is a second Adar and is added to maintain the alignment of religious holidays with the seasons. This ensures that Passover will always fall in the spring.

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      The months in the daily life of the Jewish people Page
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      Months (religious calendar) Page
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      Τοποθέτησε τους μήνες σε σωστή σειρά. Interactive Content

  • Week

  • Celebrations

  • Date conversion from Gregorian to Hebrew Calendar

    • Chronology

      The Jewish chronology is measured from the creation of the world (according to the Torah), which is placed at 3761 BC. Therefore, 2025 AD corresponds to the year 5785-5786 in Hebrew chronology (depending on the month).

      Jewish year = Gregorian year + 3760 or 3761

      Jewish year = Gregorian year + 3760 or 3761

      Numbering

      A lunar year is ten or more days shorter than its solar year of 365 days. To compensate for this difference, leap years consisting of 13 months are added to the Jewish calendar. Because of these different ways of calculation, the discrepancies between the Hebrew and Gregorian days and dates are constantly changing.

      Therefore, there is no simple basis for converting dates and any such calculation can be difficult for anyone who is not familiar with the methodology of the Jewish calendar.

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