Hebrew date converter

The Hebrew calendar in two minutes

The Hebrew calendar follows both the moon and the sun. Its months are lunar months of 29 or 30 days, and a regular year of 12 months lasts 353 to 355 days, about 11 days less than a Gregorian year. To keep Passover in the spring, a whole month is added every few years.

Leap years: Adar I and Adar II

Every 19-year cycle has 7 leap years: years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 of the cycle. A leap year has 13 months and lasts 383 to 385 days. The extra month is Adar: a leap year has Adar I and Adar II, and Purim falls in Adar II. The year 5787, which began in September 2026, is a leap year, and 5788 after it is a regular year.

Cheshvan and Kislev change length

Most months are fixed, but Cheshvan and Kislev have 29 or 30 days depending on the year. So 30 Cheshvan and 30 Kislev exist only in some years, and the converter tells you if the date you chose does not exist that year. Rosh Hashanah, 1 Tishrei, never falls on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, and between 1900 and 2099 it always falls between 5 September and 5 October.

The Hebrew day starts in the evening

In the Hebrew calendar the day starts in the evening, not at midnight. Someone born on Tuesday evening, after sunset, was born on Wednesday's Hebrew date. That is why the converter has an after sunset box, which adds one day. The minutes between sunset and the appearance of the stars, called bein hashmashot, are a matter of doubt in Jewish law, so anyone born then who wants the exact date should ask a rabbi. The converter does not know when the sun set on the day and in the place you chose: in Israel sunset is roughly between 16:40 in winter and 19:50 in summer.

How to write a Hebrew date

A Hebrew date is written in letters, and every letter is a number: א is 1, י is 10, ק is 100 and ת is 400. The order is day, month, year, and the month takes the prefix ב: כ״ב בתשרי ה׳תשפ״ז (22 Tishrei 5787).

• A one-letter number takes a geresh after it: א׳ בניסן, ל׳ בשבט.
• A number of several letters takes gershayim before the last letter: י״ז באייר, תשפ״ז.
• 15 and 16 are written ט״ו and ט״ז, not י״ה and י״ו, to avoid writing letters of the divine name.
• The ה before the year is 5,000. You can write ה׳תשפ״ז or simply תשפ״ז; both are correct.

Hebrew birthdays, yahrzeits and invitations

Hebrew birthday

The Hebrew date comes round every year, but on the civil calendar it moves within about a month. To see when your Hebrew birthday falls in the coming years, choose Hebrew to Gregorian and enter your Hebrew date of birth: a table of the next five years appears under the result. The Age and bar mitzvah tab also shows your Hebrew age and the bar and bat mitzvah dates.

Yahrzeit

A yahrzeit is set by the Hebrew date of death. When the death was in Adar, on 30 Cheshvan or on 30 Kislev, there are years when the date appears twice or not at all, and customs differ. The converter's table follows the custom for birthdays, so for a yahrzeit on such dates check with a rabbi.

Event invitations

Wedding, bar mitzvah and brit invitations often show both dates. For an evening event that starts after nightfall, the Hebrew date is already the next day's, so check it before sending to print: choose Gregorian to Hebrew and tick after sunset.

Hebrew dates in Israeli documents

In Israel the Hebrew date also appears in official documents. The names of laws include both the Hebrew and the Gregorian year, for example the Consumer Protection Law, 5741-1981, and letters from government offices often carry both dates. Businesses whose clients live by the Hebrew calendar, such as event halls, wedding and bar mitzvah photographers, schools and synagogues, often write both dates side by side.

On a website or in a system you can show Hebrew dates without an external library: modern browsers include the Hebrew calendar, and this converter is built on it.