Jewish Holidays 2016
This page displays the Diaspora holiday schedule. The Israel schedule is used by Jews living in modern Israel.
Major holidays 2016 ✡️
Purim
Celebration of Jewish deliverance as told by Megilat Esther. It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination. 🎭️📜
Pesach
Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Also called Chag HaMatzot (the Festival of Matzah), it commemorates the Exodus and freedom of the Israelites from ancient Egypt. 🫓🍷
Tish’a B’Av ✡️
The Ninth of Av. Fast commemorating the destruction of the two Temples.
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Yom Kippur
Day of Atonement. The holiest day of the year in Judaism, traditionally observed with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer. ✡️
Sukkot
Feast of Booths. Also called the Feast of Tabernacles, the seven-day holiday is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals (Hebrew: שלוש רגלים, shalosh regalim). 🌿🍋
Shmini Atzeret ✡️
Eighth Day of Assembly. Immediately following Sukkot, it is observed as a separate holiday in the Diaspora and is combined with Simchat Torah in Israel.
Simchat Torah
Day of Celebrating the Torah. Celebration marking the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. ✡️
Chanukah
Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of rededication. Also known as the Festival of Lights, the eight-day festival is observed by lighting the candles of a hanukkiah (menorah). 🕎
Minor holidays 2016 ✡️
Purim Katan 🎭️
Minor Purim celebration during Adar I on leap years
Shushan Purim Katan 🎭️
Minor Purim celebration during Adar I on leap years in Jerusalem and walled cities
Shushan Purim 🎭️📜
Purim celebrated in Jerusalem and walled cities
Days of the Omer ㊾
7 weeks from the second night of Pesach to the day before Shavuot. Also called Sefirat HaOmer, it is a practice that consists of a verbal counting of each of the forty-nine days between the two holidays
Pesach Sheni ✡️
Second Passover, one month after Passover
Lag BaOmer 🔥
33rd day of counting the Omer. The holiday is a temporary break from the semi-mourning period the counting of the Omer.
Tu B’Av ❤️
Minor Jewish holiday of love. Observed on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Av.
Rosh Hashana LaBehemot 🐑
New Year for Tithing Animals
Leil Selichot 🕍
Prayers for forgiveness in preparation for the High Holidays
Chag HaBanot ✡️
North African Chanukah festival of daughters. Called Eid al-Banat in Arabic, the holiday was most preserved in Tunisia.
Minor fasts 2016
Minor fasts begin at dawn and end at nightfall.
Ta’anit Esther
Fast of Esther
Ta’anit Bechorot
Fast of the First Born
Tzom Tammuz
Fast commemorating breaching of the walls of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Second Temple
Tzom Gedaliah
Fast of the Seventh Month. Commemorates the assassination of the Jewish governor of Judah.
Modern holidays 2016 🇮🇱
Family Day 🇮🇱
Yom HaMishpacha, a day to honor the family unit
Yom HaShoah ✡️
Holocaust Memorial Day
Yom HaZikaron 🇮🇱
Israeli Memorial Day. Remembers those who died in the War of Independence and other wars in Israel.
Yom HaAtzma’ut 🇮🇱
Israeli Independence Day. Commemorates the declaration of independence of Israel in 1948.
Herzl Day 🇮🇱
Commemorates the life and vision of Zionist leader Theodor Herzl
Yom Yerushalayim 🇮🇱
Jerusalem Day. Commemorates the re-unification of Jerusalem in 1967.
Jabotinsky Day 🇮🇱
Commemorates the life and vision of Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky
Yom HaAliyah School Observance 🇮🇱
Aliyah Day observed in Israeli schools
Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Day 🇮🇱
Commemorates the life of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
Sigd ✡️
Ethiopian Jewish holiday occurring 50 days after Yom Kippur
Ben-Gurion Day 🇮🇱
Commemorates the life and vision of Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
Special Shabbatot 2016 🕍
Shabbat Shirah
Shabbat of Song. Shabbat that includes Parashat Beshalach.
Shabbat Shekalim
Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Adar. Read in preparation for Purim.
Shabbat Zachor
Shabbat of Remembrance. Shabbat before Purim.
Shabbat Parah
Shabbat of the Red Heifer. Shabbat before Shabbat HaChodesh, in preparation for Passover.
Shabbat HaChodesh
Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Nissan. Read in preparation for Passover.
Shabbat HaGadol
Shabbat before Pesach (The Great Shabbat)
Shabbat Chazon
Shabbat of Prophecy/Shabbat of Vision. Shabbat before Tish'a B'Av.
Shabbat Nachamu
Shabbat after Tish'a B'Av (Shabbat of Consolation). The first of seven Shabbatot leading up to Rosh Hashanah.
Shabbat Shuva
Shabbat of Returning. Shabbat that occurs during the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Rosh Chodesh 2016 🌒
רֹאשׁ חוֹדֶשׁ, transliterated Rosh Chodesh or Rosh Hodesh, is a minor holiday that occurs at the beginning of every month in the Hebrew calendar. It is marked by the birth of a new moon.
Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat
Start of month of Sh'vat on the Hebrew calendar. שְׁבָט (transliterated Sh'vat or Shevat) is the 11th month of the Hebrew year, has 30 days, and corresponds to January or February on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Adar I
Start of month of Adar I (on leap years) on the Hebrew calendar. Adar I (אַדָר א׳) is the 12th month of the Hebrew year, occurs only on leap years, has 30 days, and corresponds to February or March on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Adar II
Start of month of Adar II (on leap years) on the Hebrew calendar. Adar II (אַדָר ב׳), sometimes "Adar Bet" or "Adar Sheni", is the 13th month of the Hebrew year, has 29 days, occurs only on leap years, and corresponds to February or March on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Nisan
Start of month of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. נִיסָן (transliterated Nisan or Nissan) is the 1st month of the Hebrew year, has 30 days, and corresponds to March or April on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Iyyar
Start of month of Iyyar on the Hebrew calendar. אִיָיר (transliterated Iyyar or Iyar) is the 2nd month of the Hebrew year, has 29 days, and corresponds to April or May on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Sivan
Start of month of Sivan on the Hebrew calendar. Sivan (סִיוָן) is the 3rd month of the Hebrew year, has 30 days, and corresponds to May or June on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Tamuz
Start of month of Tamuz on the Hebrew calendar. תַּמּוּז (transliterated Tamuz or Tammuz) is the 4th month of the Hebrew year, has 29 days, and corresponds to June or July on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Av
Start of month of Av on the Hebrew calendar. Av (אָב) is the 5th month of the Hebrew year, has 30 days, and corresponds to July or August on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Elul
Start of month of Elul on the Hebrew calendar. Elul (אֱלוּל) is the 6th month of the Hebrew year, has 29 days, and corresponds to August or September on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
Start of month of Cheshvan on the Hebrew calendar. חֶשְׁוָן (transliterated Cheshvan or Heshvan) is the 8th month of the Hebrew year, has 29 or 30 days, and corresponds to October or November on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Kislev
Start of month of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar. Kislev (כִּסְלֵו) is the 9th month of the Hebrew year, has 30 or 29 days, and corresponds to November or December on the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Chodesh Tevet
Start of month of Tevet on the Hebrew calendar. Tevet (טֵבֵת) is the 10th month of the Hebrew year, has 29 days, and corresponds to December or January on the Gregorian calendar.