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Jewish Calendar






The Jewish Calendar


Understanding the Jewish Calendar

A brief guide to the start of a new day, the Sabbath, and the calendar months.


When Does a New Day Start?

In the Jewish calendar, a new day does not begin at midnight like in the Gregorian calendar. Instead, a new day begins at **sundown**. This ancient practice is rooted directly in the first chapter of Genesis in the Torah.

“And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” – Genesis 1:5

This verse indicates that the “evening” (darkness) precedes the “morning” (light), establishing a day that runs from one sunset to the next. All Jewish holidays and observances follow this principle, starting in the evening before the official calendar date.

The Sabbath (Shabbat)

The most well-known application of this rule is the observance of the Sabbath, or “Shabbat.” The Sabbath is a day of rest and spiritual enrichment.

  • When it starts: The Sabbath begins at **sundown on Friday evening**. This is marked by the lighting of Shabbat candles, typically 18 minutes before official sunset in the local area.
  • When it ends: The Sabbath concludes at **sundown on Saturday evening**, after the appearance of three stars in the night sky. The end is marked by a ceremony called Havdalah, which signifies the separation of the holy day from the new week.

For this reason, Jewish communities all over the world check local sunset times to know exactly when to begin and end their Sabbath observance.

Jewish Months and Leap Years

The Jewish calendar is a **lunisolar calendar**, meaning it is based on both the moon’s cycles (for months) and the sun’s cycle (for seasons). Because a lunar year is shorter than a solar year, a system is needed to keep the holidays aligned with the correct agricultural seasons.

The Months of the Year

  1. Tishrei
  2. Cheshvan
  3. Kislev
  4. Tevet
  5. Shevat
  6. Adar (or Adar II)
  7. Nisan
  8. Iyar
  9. Sivan
  10. Tammuz
  11. Av
  12. Elul

How Leap Years Work

To correct for the difference between the lunar and solar cycles, a **leap month** is added periodically. This happens **seven times** in every **19-year cycle**. The additional month is called **Adar I**, and it is inserted before the regular month of Adar, which is then referred to as **Adar II**. This clever solution ensures that holidays like Passover always fall in the spring.