All about the Jewish Calendar • FamilySearch (2024)

Did you know the Jewish (or Hebrew) calendar is one of the oldest calendars in the world still in use today? There is so much that we can learn from studying it. Would you like to learn how to read Hebrew calendar dates and convert them to Gregorian dates (the date system most people use today)? Or perhaps you would like to learn more about your own Jewish heritage? Read on!

A Quick Note about Calendars

There are several calendar types in use around the world today, though most people use a common calendar (the Gregorian) in some way. Most calendars, including the Jewish Calendar, have days, months, and years, but how these work depends on if the calendar is lunar, solar, or lunisolar, and what cultural or historical events and customs have influenced it.

What Is the Hebrew Calendar?

The Jewish or Hebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar created and used by the Hebrew people—it’s “lunar” in that every month follows the phases of the moon, and “solar” because the calendar’s 12 months follow the earth’s orbit around the sun.

Hebrew calendar months are always either 29 or 30 days long (closely following the moon's cycle). As with many calendar systems, the Hebrew calendar doesn't quite sync between its monthly and yearly calculations. Thus, over time, the seasons and months fall out of sync. To adjust for this, the Hebrew calendar adds an intercalary month (learn more about how the Hebrew Calendar works below!).

The first half of the year 2023 is the year 5783 according to the Hebrew calendar, which has been calculated all the way back to the creation of the earth, as recorded in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh).

There is special significance to using both the sun and the moon in the Hebrew Calendar. The moon and its cycles are each heavily symbolic and tied to scripture; however, the Jewish people do not rely on an entirely lunar calendar because they were also commanded to keep all celebrations in their own seasons—thus the need for a calendar that also follows the apparent movement of the sun.

History of the Hebrew Calendar

The exact origins of the Hebrew calendar are not known, and much of its early history has been obscured. Unfortunately, there are periods in Jewish history when the Jewish people were captured or ruled by other groups of people, such as the Babylonians and Romans. This affected how the Hebrew calendar was used at the time. Here’s a quick time line of important events (dates are debated by scholars and are approximations) in the creation of the Hebrew calendar:

• 586 B.C.E.—Babylonian Exile begins; the Jewish Calendar is affected by the Babylonian calendar. Some month names are changed, and some Hebrews even adopt a solar calendar.
• 538 B.C.E.—The Second Temple Period begins. The Sanhedrin, the governing body of the Jewish people, are instrumental in regulating the calendar for the Jewish people.
• 358 or 359 C.E.—The Sanhedrin permanently establish a fixed lunisolar calendar based on mathematics, created by Hillel II.
• 700-800 C.E.—The Hebrew Calendar changes its yearly numbering system to years since creation, rather than years since the Exodus or years since the destruction of the Second Temple.

How Is the Hebrew Calendar Used Today?

The Hebrew calendar is the official calendar of the State of Israel. It is also used by Jewish people around the world as a religious calendar.

Israelis use the Hebrew calendar for a variety of purposes. For religious purposes, the Hebrew calendar is used to determine the dates of Jewish holidays and festivals. For example, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, always falls on the first day of the month of Tishri in the Hebrew calendar. The Hebrew calendar is also used for secular purposes. For example, the school year in Israel starts in the fall, which coincides with the beginning of the Hebrew year.

For official Israeli government purposes, all official documents must have the Hebrew date on them. The Hebrew calendar is used in the media: Israeli newspapers and television stations always give the dates of news stories in both the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars.

In family history research, you may well encounter Hebrew calendar references, since many current as well as historic Jewish records have Hebrew calendar dates.

How Does the Hebrew Calendar Work?

As mentioned above, the Hebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar. There are 12 (or 13) months in each year and 7 days in the week. A new day on the Hebrew calendar starts at sundown.

Each Hebrew year shows the number of years that have passed since the time of creation, as designated by the Jewish religion.

What Are the Months of the Hebrew Calendar?

1. Nissan, also called Aviv
2. Iyar, also called Ziv
3. Sivan
4. Tammuz
5. Av
6. Elul
7. Tishrei, also called Eitanim
8. Cheshvan, also called Bul
9. Kislev, also spelled Chislev
10. Tevet
11. Shevat
12. Adar (I and II)

In the Hebrew calendar, a leap year necessitates the addition of a whole month, termed an intercalary month—another Adar; in this case, the two months are denoted as Adar I and Adar II. Months in the Jewish calendar alternate between 30 and 29 days; Adar I, the intercalary month, always has 30 days.

What about the Days of the Week?

Jewish days besides the Sabbath—Shabbat—are not named; instead, they are numbered “first,” “second,” and so on, starting with what we call Sunday. The word “yom” means “day” in Hebrew, so the "first day," Sunday, would be called Yom Rishon. The days of the Jewish calendar are as follows:

1. Yom Rishon
2. Yom Sheini
3. Yom Shlishi
4. Yom R'vii
5. Yom Chamishi
6. Yom Shishi
7. Yom Shabbat
   

How to Read Hebrew Calendar Dates

Hebrew calendar dates are usually shown by writing the day, month, and year. In Hebrew, dates are read right to left, but transliterations of the Hebrew are often shown left to right. No commas are used between the numerals. Here is an example:

Converting Hebrew Calendar Dates to Gregorian

Conversion from the current "fixed" Hebrew calendar to its corresponding Gregorian date is complex; for the unfixed calendar before 359 C.E., it’s nearly impossible to do manually. Thankfully, there are dozens of date converters online that will do the calculating for you.

• Hebcal (Shows a full Hebrew calendar and a converter. Shows the date in both Hebrew and Roman characters. Also shows the corresponding Torah reading section.)
• Chabad.org (Simple converter. Shows the corresponding Torah reading section along with the Hebrew calendar date in Roman characters.
• Fourmilab (Enter a date in one calendar format and see how it changes for many different types of calendars.)

Holidays on the Jewish Calendar

Although Jewish holiday dates appear to drift on the Gregorian calendar, this isn’t the case when looking at the Hebrew calendar. For example, Pesach, or the Feast of the Passover, always takes place from the 15th to the 22nd of Nissan. This will seem to fall sometime in the months of April and March on the Gregorian calendar, but it is always the same in the Hebrew calendar.

When Is the Jewish New Year?

On the Hebrew calendar, there are 4 holidays throughout the year that celebrate the start of the new year—and they don't all fall in the same month:

• Rosh Hashanah, celebrated the first and second days of Tishrei (the 7th month), marks the start of a new year number.
• The first of Nissan (the 1st month) marks the new beginning of the calendar month cycle.
• Rosh Hashana LaBehemot, on the 1st of Elul, marks a new year for the tithing of animals.
• Tu BiShvat, celebrated on the 15th of Shevat, marks the new year of the harvest.

Each of these beginnings has religious and historical significance.

Explore Your Jewish Heritage

If you have Jewish heritage, learning about the Hebrew calendar is a great way to start exploring the lives of your ancestors. Delve more into your Jewish heritage, or get started building your own family tree! On FamilySearch, there are free resources for recording what you know about your ancestors and learning lots more.