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Vulnerability Acknowledgements for Hebcal online services

Hebcal would like to thank the following individuals and organizations that have privately reported security issues that affected the Hebcal.com website or online services and agreed to be listed.

To report an issue in Hebcal.com, please contact security@hebcal.com. Please allow a reasonable time (1-2 business days) for a response after reporting.

2023 Acknowledgements

  • Ezio Paglia (https://www.openbugbounty.org/researchers/EzioPaglia/)
  • Shivam Khambe (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivam-pravin-khambe-9a982b180/)
  • SYP Ltd (https://www.openbugbounty.org/researchers/SYPltd/)

Daily learning: Tehillim (Psalms)

We have added the monthly cycle of studying Tehillim (Psalms) to our daily learning calendars.

Each day, we study a few chapters from the 150-chapter book of Psalms (Tehillim). The entire book is completed on the final day of each Hebrew month. On months with 29 days, the 30th portion is combined with the 29th portion.

For example, the reading for the 18th of Sivan, 5783 (Wednesday, 7 June 2023) is Psalms 88-89.

You’ll find the calendar feed for Apple, Google, Outlook on the Jewish Holiday downloads page.

Candle-lighting, Havdalah & Fast times

Hebcal can generate Candle-lighting & Havdalah times for Shabbat and holidays, and start and end times for fast days. Over 100,000 world cities are supported.

Candle-lighting times / הַדְלָקַת נֵרוֹת

By default, candle lighting time is 18 minutes before sundown (40 minutes for Jerusalem, 30 minutes for Haifa and Zikhron Ya’akov) on Erev Shabbat (Friday) and Erev Chag (Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shmini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, Pesach, Shavuot).

Hebcal gives an option to specify a different number of minutes before sunset if you don’t follow the 18-minute minhag (for example, some light candles 20 minutes before sundown).

Chanukah candle-lighting times are at civil dusk (solar depression of 6 degrees) on weekdays. Chanukah candles are lit just before Shabbat candles on Friday, and immediately after Havdalah on Saturday night.

Havdalah / הַבְדָּלָה

Havdalah is calculated according to tzeit hakochavim / צֵאת הַכּוֹכָבִים, the point when 3 small stars are observable in the night sky with the naked eye (sun 8.5° below the horizon). This option is an excellent default for most places on the planet.

Hebcal also offers the option to use a fixed number of minutes past sundown. Typically one would enter 42 min for three medium-sized stars, 50 min for three small stars, 72 min for Rabbeinu Tam, or 0 to suppress Havdalah times.

Fast times

Minor fasts begin in the morning at alot haShachar / עֲלוֹת הַשַּׁחַר (solar depression 16.1 degrees) and conclude at tzeit for 3 medium sized stars (solar depression 7.083 degrees). Both start and end times are displayed for following minor fasts:

  • Tzom Gedaliah
  • Asara B’Tevet
  • Ta’anit Esther
  • Tzom Tammuz

Hebcal displays only a start time for Ta’anit Bechorot because customs vary about when to end the fast (often at a siyyum at the conclusion of morning services).

Major fasts (Yom Kippur and Tish’a B’Av) begin just before sunset at regular candle-lighting time and conclude at Havdalah time. On Yom Kippur, fast start and end times are indicated with the regular “Candle lighting” and “Havdalah” event titles.

A note about accuracy

How accurate are candle lighting times?

If you ever have any doubts about Hebcal times, consult your local halachic authority.

If you select a location (or enter geographic coordinates) above the arctic circle or below the antarctic circle, the times are guaranteed to be wrong. The NOAA algorithm used to calculate the position of the sun is inaccurate at extreme northern and southern latitudes.

Daily learning: Mishneh Torah and Chofetz Chaim

We’re pleased to announce two new daily learning calendars on Hebcal.com.

The Daily Rambam is a learning program that divides Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah legal code into daily units, to complete the whole work in three years. We offer the one chapter a day schedule. We plan to also offer the 3-chapters-per-day schedule.

The Sefer Chofetz Chaim deals with the Jewish ethics and laws of speech. This cycle takes 1/3 of a year to complete. The book is divided into 119 parts in a regular year and 129 parts in a leap year. We plan to offer a daily learning schedule for the related text Shemirat HaLashon.

You will find both Daily Rambam and Daily Chofetz Chaim calendar feeds on our calendar downloads page. You’ll be able to subscribe to perpetual calendar updates on iPhone, iPad, Android (via Google Calendar), Outlook, macOS Desktop Calendar, or any app that supports iCalendar (.ics) feeds.

Displaying today’s Omer count

If you’d like to display today’s Omer count on your website and you’re comfortable with a bit of Javascript, you can use a snippet like this:

To display the Omer count in another language, change the &lg=s to another supported language code (for example h for Hebrew, es for Spanish, etc).

If you’d like to display the long omer count in English or Hebrew, you can dislay item.omer.count.en or item.omer.count.he

  • he: “הַיוֹם שְׁמוֹנָה עָשָׂר יוֹם, שְׁהֵם שְׁנֵי שָׁבוּעוֹת וְאַרְבָּעָה יָמִים לָעוֹמֶר”,
  • en: “Today is 18 days, which is 2 weeks and 4 days of the Omer”

See also item.omer.sefira.he, .en, and .translit.

  • he: “נֶּֽצַח שֶׁבְּתִּפאֶרֶת”,
  • translit: “Netzach sheb’Tiferet”,
  • en: “Eternity within Beauty”