Skip to main content

Why are fixed fast days sometimes observed on a different day?

Posted on by

For example, Tzom Tammuz is always on the 17th of Tammuz, but in the year 5772 (2012 C.E.) it is on the 18th of Tammuz. The answer has to do with Shabbat:

“The Hebrew year contains several fast days that, though specified by particular Hebrew calendar dates, are shifted when those days occur on Saturday. The fast days are Tzom Gedaliah (Tishri 3), Tzom Tevet (Tevet 10), and Tishah be-Av (Av 9). When Purim is on Sunday, Ta’anit Esther occurs on the preceding Thursday… Each of the other fast days, as well as Shushan Purim (the day after Purim, celebrated in Jerusalem), is postponed to the following day (Sunday) when it occurs on Saturday.”

Reference: Calendrical Calculations, Edward M. Reingold, Nachum Dershowitz, Cambridge University Press, 2001, page 109.

Displaying Shabbat candle-lighting times on your website

Posted on by

Hebcal.com’s Add Shabbat Times to your Website tool lets you create custom HTML tags to which display weekly candle-lighting times directly on your web page. The result looks something like this:

Shabbat times for Chicago, IL

Candle lighting: 4:08pm on Friday, 02 January 2004
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayigash
Havdalah (72 min): 5:39pm on Saturday, 03 January 2004

1-Click Shabbat Copyright © 2004 Michael J. Radwin. All rights reserved.

Microsoft Outlook CSV – incorrect dates for events

Posted on by

Some users have a mismatch between the date format they are downloading (USA vs. European) and the setting you’re using in your control panel. This usually results in events that were supposed to take place, for example, on September 2nd instead showing up on February 9th (i.e. the date “9/2” vs. the date “2/9”).

If you downloaded a calendar with the wrong dates for events, follow our delete Hebcal Jewish calendar from Outlook instructions to make it quick and painless to remove the incorrect information.

To find out the root cause of the mismatch, go to “Regional Options” Control Panel and pick “Date”, and compare the date format you’re using. For example:

[Regional Options Dialog Box]

If it says “M/d/yyyy” like mine does, be sure to download the USA format from hebcal.com. If it says “dd-MMM-yy”, be sure to download European format from hebcal.com.