| © 2007 Rabbi Barbara Aiello, All rights reserved. |
Rabbi Barbara Aiello
Understanding the Jewish Calendar • www.rabbibarbara.com
Welcome to Understanding the Jewish Calendar, what
the differences are between the secular and Jewish
Calendar and how the Jewish Calendar works.
Regarding the Jewish calendar, here's what you need to know.
1. The secular calendar (solar) and the Jewish calendar (lunar) are different.
2. On the secular calendar the current year is 2007-2008. On the Hebrew calendar the
current year is 5768.
3. The reason for the difference? The secular calendar begins counting from the birth of
Jesus. The Hebrew calendar begins counting from the giving of the Torah (The Ten
Commandments) at Mt. Sinai. (This is one opinion, there are others).
4. On the Jewish calendar one complete day goes from sunset to sunset. On the secular
calendar a new day begins at midnight. This can be confusing especially when Jews look at
a secular calendar and see, for example, the first day of Chanukah falls on a Thursday. This
means that the first candle is lit on Wednesday night!
5. The Jewish calendar is important to Jews for several reasons. Because it is a lunar
calendar the secular date of a holiday changes each year. There is only one holiday on the
secular calendar that follows this system, Easter. Easter is a different secular date each
year. For Jews, every holiday is a different secular date every year.
6. The Jewish calendar is also important to Jews because birthdates, anniversaries and
Yahrzeits (anniversaries of the death of a loved one) also occur on a different secular date
each year.
7. If you need to convert a secular date to a Jewish date (or vice versa) , there are several
websites devoted to calendar conversions.
8. There are 12 months on the Hebrew calendar unless it is a leap year. Then there are 13
months.
9. The Jewish New Year begins in the secular months of September or October. A Jewish
month usually crosses two secular months, for example:
Elul - Tishrei corresponds to September
Tishrei - Chesvan to October
Cheshvan - Kislev to November
Kislev - Tevet to December
Tevet - Shevat to January
Shevat - Adar to February
Adar I - Nisan to March (in leap years there is Adar II)
Nisan - Iyrar to April
Iyar - Sivan to May
Sivan - Tamuz to June
Tamuz - Av to July
Av - Elul to August
the differences are between the secular and Jewish
Calendar and how the Jewish Calendar works.
Regarding the Jewish calendar, here's what you need to know.
1. The secular calendar (solar) and the Jewish calendar (lunar) are different.
2. On the secular calendar the current year is 2007-2008. On the Hebrew calendar the
current year is 5768.
3. The reason for the difference? The secular calendar begins counting from the birth of
Jesus. The Hebrew calendar begins counting from the giving of the Torah (The Ten
Commandments) at Mt. Sinai. (This is one opinion, there are others).
4. On the Jewish calendar one complete day goes from sunset to sunset. On the secular
calendar a new day begins at midnight. This can be confusing especially when Jews look at
a secular calendar and see, for example, the first day of Chanukah falls on a Thursday. This
means that the first candle is lit on Wednesday night!
5. The Jewish calendar is important to Jews for several reasons. Because it is a lunar
calendar the secular date of a holiday changes each year. There is only one holiday on the
secular calendar that follows this system, Easter. Easter is a different secular date each
year. For Jews, every holiday is a different secular date every year.
6. The Jewish calendar is also important to Jews because birthdates, anniversaries and
Yahrzeits (anniversaries of the death of a loved one) also occur on a different secular date
each year.
7. If you need to convert a secular date to a Jewish date (or vice versa) , there are several
websites devoted to calendar conversions.
8. There are 12 months on the Hebrew calendar unless it is a leap year. Then there are 13
months.
9. The Jewish New Year begins in the secular months of September or October. A Jewish
month usually crosses two secular months, for example:
Elul - Tishrei corresponds to September
Tishrei - Chesvan to October
Cheshvan - Kislev to November
Kislev - Tevet to December
Tevet - Shevat to January
Shevat - Adar to February
Adar I - Nisan to March (in leap years there is Adar II)
Nisan - Iyrar to April
Iyar - Sivan to May
Sivan - Tamuz to June
Tamuz - Av to July
Av - Elul to August