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When do the Holidays begin?

In general, Jewish Holidays begin the evening before the date specified. This is because the Jewish day actually begins at sundown on the previous night. Sometimes, for clarity, the Erev holiday is also included to indicate that the holiday begins the evening before.

For example, in the April 2015 calendar below, Erev Pesach is listed as April 3rd and the first day of Pesach is listed as April 4th. This means that the holiday of Pesach begins on the evening on April 3rd.

And, Rosh Chodesh Iyyar is listed on April 19. This means that Rosh Chodesh begins on the evening of April 18, even though the Erev is not explicitly mentioned on the calendar.

April 2015

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12 13 14 15 16

17 18
19

20

21 22

23

24 25
26 27 28 29 30

Minor fasts (Tzom GedaliahAsara B’TevetTa’anit EstherTa’anit Bechorot, and Tzom Tammuz) begin at dawn. Major fasts (Yom Kippur and Tish’a B’Av) begin the evening before.

Display a Jewish Calendar on your website with Hebcal + FullCalendar.io

To display a Jewish calendar on your website, you can use event data from Hebcal.com and the open source JavaScript event calendar from fullcalendar.io.

Here’s a quick template to give you an idea of how to edit the HTML on your site.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en"><head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Jewish Calendar</title>
<link href="hebcal-styles.css" rel="stylesheet">
</head>
<body>
<div id="calendar"></div>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/fullcalendar@6.1.9/index.global.min.js" integrity="sha384-wv6yRjQC0TqzEnAjFQVXM2V0JrF6Nk0dh6QAGf1RwzTqPArdwU3luBZjVCi2YSVH" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script>
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
  var calendarEl = document.getElementById('calendar');
  var calendar = new FullCalendar.Calendar(calendarEl, {
      initialView: 'dayGridMonth',
      headerToolbar: {
        left: 'title',
        right: 'prev,next today',
      },
      eventDisplay: 'block',
      events: {
          // add &c=on&geonameid=[locationID] for candle-lighting times
          url: "https://www.hebcal.com/hebcal?cfg=fc&v=1&i=off&maj=on&min=on&nx=on&mf=on&ss=on&mod=on&lg=s&s=on",
          cache: true
      }
  });
  calendar.render();
  // optional: bind keyboard left/right arrow keys
  // to move calendar forward/backward by a month
  document.addEventListener('keydown', function(e) {
    if (e.key === 'ArrowLeft' && !e.metaKey) {
      calendar.prev();
    } else if (e.key === 'ArrowRight' && !e.metaKey) {
      calendar.next();
    }
  });
});
</script>
</body>
</html>

Note on line 9 we use the CDN-hosted FullCalendar JavaScript. If you want to self-host the FullCalendar, you can do so following the FullCalendar Basic Usage instructions.

Note lines 18-22 where we specify the FullCalendar events configuration. We use a url on line 20 that fetches events from Hebcal. You can make other changes such as enabling candle-lighting times, Daf Yomi, etc and changing the event display language (default Sephardic transliterations). See the Jewish calendar REST API documentation for full details on what each parameter means. Remember to use cfg=fc for the FullCalendar format.

You won’t need to specify a year=YYYY parameter, as the fullcalendar.io script automatically sends start=YYYY-MM-DD and end=YYYY-MM-DD parameters for you.

For best performance, be sure to use cache: true (line 21).

If you’d like to include candle-lighting times for Shabbat and holidays, be sure to adjust the url parameter to include c=on and one of the location fields (such as geonameid=3448439 for São Paulo, Brazil).

We recommend some specific styles to make the page look prettier:

/*! normalize.css v8.0.1 | MIT License | github.com/necolas/normalize.css */
html, body {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
  font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;
  font-size: 14px;
}
#calendar {
  max-width: 1000px;
  margin: 40px auto;
}
a:hover .fc-event-title {
  text-decoration: underline;
}
a:not([href]):hover .fc-event-title {
  text-decoration: none;
}
.fc-event {
    display: block; /* make the <a> tag block */
    font-size: .85em;
    line-height: 1.3;
    border-radius: 3px;
    color: #fff;
    border: 1px solid #3a87ad; /* default BORDER color */
    background-color: #3a87ad; /* default BACKGROUND color */
    margin: 1px 2px 0; /* spacing between events and edges */
    padding: 0 1px;
}
.fc-time {
  font-weight: bold;
}
.fc-event a {
    color: #fff;
}
.fc-event a:hover,
.fc-event a:focus {
    color: #fff;
}
.fc-event.hebdate, .fc-event.hebdate .fc-event-title,
.fc-event.omer, .fc-event.omer .fc-event-title {
  background-color:#FFF;
  border: 1px solid #FFF;
  color:#999;
}
.fc-event.dafyomi,
.fc-event.dafyomi a,
.fc-event.dafyomi .fc-event-title {
  background-color:#FFF;
  border: 1px solid #FFF;
  color:#08c;
}
.fc-event.dafyomi a:hover,
.fc-event.dafyomi a:focus {
    color: #005580;
}
.fc-event.mishnayomi,
.fc-event.mishnayomi a,
.fc-event.mishnayomi .fc-event-title {
  background-color:#FFF;
  border: 1px solid #FFF;
  color:#257e4a;
}
.fc-event.mishnayomi a:hover,
.fc-event.mishnayomi a:focus {
    color: #15713b;
}

.fc-event.holiday,
.fc-event.holiday .fc-event-title,
.fc-event.holiday.timed,
.fc-event.holiday.timed .fc-event-title {
  background-color:#3a87ad;
  border: 1px solid #3a87ad;
  color:#FFF;
}
.fc-event.fast {
  background-color:#fd7e14;
  border: 1px solid #fd7e14;
  color:#FFF;
}
.fc-event.timed,
.fc-event.timed .fc-event-title,
.fc-event.holiday.timed.fast,
.fc-event.holiday.timed.fast .fc-event-title {
  background-color:#FFF;
  border: 1px solid #FFF;
  color:#333;
}
.fc-event.holiday.yomtov,
.fc-event.holiday.yomtov a,
.fc-event.holiday.yomtov .fc-event-title {
  background-color:#ffd446;
  border: 1px solid #ffd446;
  color:#333;
}
.fc-event.parashat,
.fc-event.parashat .fc-event-title {
  background-color:#257e4a;
  border: 1px solid #257e4a;
  color:#FFF;
}
.fc-event.roshchodesh {
  background-color:#6f42c1;
  border: 1px solid #6f42c1;
  color:#FFF;
}
.fc-event.hebrew .fc-title {
  font-family:'SBL Hebrew',David;
  font-size:115%;
  font-weight:normal;
  direction:rtl;
}
.fc-event.hebrew .fc-time {
  direction:ltr;
  unicode-bidi: bidi-override;
}
.fc-event-time, .fc-event-title {
 padding: 0 1px;
 white-space: normal;
}
.fc .fc-event.fc-event-today .fc-event-title {
  background-color: rgba(255,220,40,0.15);
}

How can I look up candle-lighting times for any city in the world?

Hebcal offers a way to specify candle-lighting times location by latitude and longitude for remote or less-populated areas.

Hebcal supports already over 45,000 world cities. Just search for the name of any world city with population 5,000+. However, if you can’t find what you’re looking for in our location database, here’s how you could find candle-lighting times for a specific location.

Example: Ixiamas, Bolivia.

  1. Go to the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names at http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/tgn/
  2. Type “Ixiamas” in the Find box and click “Search” button
  3. Click on the link that says “Ixiamas… inhabited place”
  4. Note the latitude/longitude represented in “degrees minutes direction” (in the example of Ixiamas, La Paz, Bolivia it is Lat: 13 45 S and Long: 068 10 W) and write this information down on a sheet of paper
  5. Visit the Hebcal Custom Calendar latitude/longitude page at https://www.hebcal.com/hebcal?c=on;geo=pos
  6. Type the latitude and longitude into the form (13 degrees, 45 minutes South Latitude, 68 degrees 10 minutes West Longitude)
  7. Select the Time zone option specific to your location (see Wikipedia’s List of tz database time zones)
  8. Click “Get Calendar” button at the bottom of the form

CSV Jewish holiday download for older versions of Microsoft Outlook

Follow these instructions to add a Hebcal Jewish holiday calendar to older versions of Microsoft Outlook. This article applies to Outlook 97, 98, 2000, 2002, 2003 for Windows.

First, you’ll need to download an Outlook CSV (Comma-separated values) file from hebcal.com:

1. Open a web browser on your Microsoft Windows computer.

2. Fill out the form with your preferences and click the Create Calendar button

3. Click the Download… button

4. Select the CSV option from the Download dialog box

5. In the dialog box, select one of the two Download buttons – either Outlook CSV – USA date format (month/day/year) or Outlook CSV – European date format (day/month/year) (depending on whether you want USA or European date formats).

6. When prompted, specify a convenient name and location for the hebcal_DATE_LOCATION.csv file in the “Save As” dialogue box. We recommend saving the file on the Desktop

Next, import that file into Outlook:

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook
  2. Select the File -> Import and Export… menu option
  3. Select “Import from another program or file” and click Next
  4. Select “Comma Separated Values (Windows)” and click Next
  5. Find the hebcal_DATE_LOCATION.csv file you downloaded and select “Do not import duplicate items” and click Next
  6. Select Calendar and click Next. This will import your chosen file

Included in the Hebcal Jewish holiday downloads are options to select major holidays (Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Pesach, etc.), minor holidays (Purim, Chanukah, etc.), special Shabbatot, public fasts (Tish’a B’Av, etc.), Rosh Chodesh, and modern holidays (Yom HaAtzma’ut, etc.).

macOS Calendar Jewish holidays download

Follow these instructions to subscribe to a Hebcal Jewish holiday calendar 5-year feed in Calendar.app on macOS (formerly called Mac OS X) desktop:

1. Open a web browser on your macOS computer.

2. Fill out the form with your preferences and click the Create Calendar button

3. Click the Download… button

4. Select the Apple option from the download dialog box

5. Click on the grey “Subscribe on iPhone, iPad & macOS” button

6. Click Allow if your browser prompts you Do you want to allow this page to open “Calendar”?

7. Apple Calendar (OS X Mountain Lion and later) or iCal (OS X Lion and earlier) will start up

8. Click Subscribe in the “Calendar URL” dialog box

9. In the next dialog box, uncheck the “Remove Alerts” option if you wish to be notified of candle-lighting and Havdalah times.


macOS Calendar Info dialog box v3

10. Choose the Location for your subscription

  • Use iCloud if you wish to synchronize with other Apple devices such as iPhone or iPad
  • Use On My Mac if you wish to have the calendar subscription only on your desktop/laptop

11. Click OK

12. Congratulations! You should now see the Hebcal holiday calendar on your Calendar app