Jewish Days, Months, and Years
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Jewish Days
Chapter 1 of The Bridge to the New Testament discusses the various methods of timekeeping by people during inter-testament times. Today, like then, Jewish days are based on an evening-to-evening method, which was established by the events described in Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31...And there was evening and there was morning, the first day (NRSV).
So, Jewish days begin at sundown the day before our new day begins at midnight, thus spanning two days on our calendar. You will notice this in the dates given at the top of this page. If you refresh the page around dusk, your local time, the Jewish date will change to the next day. If you travel to Israel, you will become acutely aware of this fact on Friday evening when you can no longer get a cab (at least for a reasonable price). All Jewish activities virtually cease for the Sabbath (Saturday), and everything shuts down on Friday evening by sundown.
Jewish days do not have names; they are simply numbered. Tuesday, for example, is just known as “the third day.” The only exception to this is the Sabbath, Yom Shabbat. The table shows the transliteration and translation from Hebrew into English of the Jewish days of the week.
| Num | Jewish Day Name and Equivalent |
|---|---|
| 1 | Yom Rishon (First Day, Sunday) |
| 2 | Yom Sheini (Second Day, Monday) |
| 3 | Yom Shlishi (Third Day, Tuesday) |
| 4 | Yom Revi’i (Fourth Day, Wednesday) |
| 5 | Yom Chamishi (Fifth Day, Thursday) |
| 6 | Yom Shishi (Sixth Day, Friday) |
| 7 | Yom Shabbat (Sabbath Day, Saturday) |
Jewish Months
Chapter 1 also discusses two Jewish calendars, Tishri years (Jewish civil) and Nisan years (Jewish religious) as shown in the tables below. Notice there is no difference in the order of the months (for example, Shevat follows Tevet in both), nor what period of the year in which they fall (for example, Kislev falls in November-December in both), yet only in the month with which they begin. This confusion is not unlike our fiscal business year that starts in October or our school year that commences in August or September versus our calendar year that begins in January. Since the Jewish calendars are lunar-cycle based and would drift over time with the seasons, they (and others who use lunar calendars) synchronize their calendar with the heavens by inserting a month (in this case Adar I) seven times every 19 years. And we thought leap days and leap seconds were inconvenient!
Note that during leap years, Adar I has 30 days, but Adar (Adar II in leap years) always has 29. So, what if you are a Jew and you were born on the 30th of Adar I? It is the same problem for someone who is born under the Gregorian calendar on February 29 of a leap year. Other than celebrating a birthday only seven times every nineteen years, this born-in-a-leap-year Jew would typically celebrate on Nisan 1 during non-leap years.
| Month | Name | Length | Gregorian Months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tishri | 30 | September-October |
| 2 | Cheshvan | 29 | October-November |
| 3 | Kislev | 29 | November-December |
| 4 | Tevet | 29 | December-January |
| 5 | Shevat | 30 | January-February |
| 6 | Adar | 29 | February-March |
| 7 | Nisan | 30 | March-April |
| 8 | Iyar | 29 | April-May |
| 9 | Sivan | 30 | May-June |
| 10 | Tammuz | 29 | June-July |
| 11 | Av | 30 | July-August |
| 12 | Elul | 29 | August-September |
| Month | Name | Length | Gregorian Months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tishri | 30 | September-October |
| 2 | Cheshvan | 30 | October-November |
| 3 | Kislev | 30 | November-December |
| 4 | Tevet | 29 | December-January |
| 5 | Shevat | 30 | January-February |
| 6 | Adar I (does not exist in non-leap years) | 30 | February-March |
| 7 | Adar II (Adar in non-leap years) | 29 | February-March |
| 8 | Nisan | 30 | March-April |
| 9 | Iyar | 29 | April-May |
| 10 | Sivan | 30 | May-June |
| 11 | Tammuz | 29 | June-July |
| 12 | Av | 30 | July-August |
| 13 | Elul | 29 | August-September |
| Month | Name | Length | Gregorian Months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nisan | 30 | March-April |
| 2 | Iyar | 29 | April-May |
| 3 | Sivan | 30 | May-June |
| 4 | Tammuz | 29 | June-July |
| 5 | Av | 30 | July-August |
| 6 | Elul | 29 | August-September |
| 7 | Tishri | 30 | September-October |
| 8 | Cheshvan | 29 | October-November |
| 9 | Kislev | 29 | November-December |
| 10 | Tevet | 29 | December-January |
| 11 | Shevat | 30 | January-February |
| 12 | Adar | 29 | February-March |
| Month | Name | Length | Gregorian Months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nisan | 30 | March-April |
| 2 | Iyar | 29 | April-May |
| 3 | Sivan | 30 | May-June |
| 4 | Tammuz | 29 | June-July |
| 5 | Av | 30 | July-August |
| 6 | Elul | 29 | August-September |
| 7 | Tishri | 30 | September-October |
| 8 | Cheshvan | 30 | October-November |
| 9 | Kislev | 30 | November-December |
| 10 | Tevet | 29 | December-January |
| 11 | Shevat | 30 | January-February |
| 12 | Adar I (does not exist in non-leap years) | 30 | February-March |
| 13 | Adar II (Adar in non-leap years) | 29 | February-March |
Jewish Years
The number of the year also differs between the Jewish and Gregorian calendars. To determine the equivalent Jewish year, one must add 3761 to the Gregorian year, and this would be how many years ago the world was created, according to rabbinic calculations. Therefore, the Gregorian year 2017 AD is equivalent to the Jewish year 5778, and “ticks over” to this value on Tishri 1.
Gregorian to Jewish Date Calculator
Today is , which is a Hebrew/Jewish date of . Use the following calculator to convert any Gregorian date to the corresponding Hebrew/Jewish date:
Jewish to Gregorian Date Calculator
Use the following calculator to convert any Hebrew/Jewish date to the corresponding Gregorian date: