Category Archives: News

In addition to providing details about the weekly Torah readings, Hebcal makes it convenient to listen to the audio of a professional cantor chanting Torah trope.

If you visit the Hebcal parsha pages from a larger display (desktop/laptop computer or a tablet), you can click the speaker icon to visit Sefaria‘s embedded PocketTorah audio.

The Sefaria native mobile app does not currently support the PocketTorah audio, so the Hebcal speaker icons are not displayed on mobile phones. The audio is displayed only on Sefaria website and depends on a larger screen, such as a desktop/laptop computer or a tablet.

For many years, Hebcal linked to audio provided by the World ORT “Navigating the Bible II” website. Unfortunately, after 20+ years on the Internet, the ORT website stopped working in July/August 2022.

If you liked Navigating the Bible, you can use the aforementioned Sefaria integration. Or, you might consider trying an alternative, such as PocketTorah (free) or TropeTrainer (not free, but very high quality). Hebcal is not affiliated with World ORT or with TropeTrainer or PocketTorah.

Original post from May 2013

We’re pleased to share that ORT’s Navigating the Bible website has been upgraded to MP3. For many years, Hebcal.com has linked to ORT’s excellent site for Torah readings with Hebrew, translation, transliteration and chanting.

When released 13+ years ago, ORT’s trope/chanting audio was based on a format called RealAudio. Unfortunately, RealAudio doesn’t work very well on modern devices like tablets.

As of May 2013, ORT has upgraded to MP3 – a more modern audio format. Users can listen to individual verses or download whole readings to listen to on their phones, tablets or other mp3 players.

Our sincere thanks to Vladimir Dribinskiy, ORT’s Chief Program Officer, and to the entire World ORT team!

We’re pleased to announce the availability of a dedicated Nach Yomi feed to our Jewish Calendar downloads.

Nach Yomi is a daily regimen of learning the books of Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). “Nach” includes the Prophets (Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others) and the Writings (such as Psalms, Job and the Five Megillot). The Nach Yomi cycle takes two years to complete.

We’ve added a minor holiday: Chag HaBanot, the North African Chanukah festival of daughters. Also known a Eid Al-Banat or Rosh Hodesh LaBanot, the Jewish festival honoring women began in Tunisia and was subsequently adopted by Jewish communities across North Africa.

Chag HaBanot for Hebrew Year 5783 begins at sundown on Friday, 23 December 2022 and ends at nightfall on Saturday, 24 December 2022.

Yerushalmi Yomi is a daily learning program for the Jerusalem Talmud. The current Yerushalmi Yomi cycle began recently, on 20 Cheshvan 5783 / 14 November 2022.

Daf Yomi Yerushalmi began on Tu BiShvat 5740 (Sat, 2 February 1980) and follows a 4¼ year cycle using page numbers according to the Vilna Edition. Unlike the Daf Yomi Bavli, this Yerushalmi cycle skips both Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av. In this version, tractate Berakhot has 68 pages so it takes 68 days to read.

There’s an alternate page numbering scheme provided by the Schottenstein Edition, and this cycle takes 5¾ years to complete. Yom Kippur and Tish’a B’Av are not skipped in this alternate cycle. This alternate cycle also began on 20 Cheshvan 5783 / 14 November 2022. In this version, tractate Berakhot has 94 pages so it takes 94 days to read.

You will find both Vilna and Schottenstein calendar feeds on our calendar downloads page.