In 358 CE (Common Era), Hillel II instituted a Jewish calendar and leap year. The result was that Jewish could be celebrated on the same day every year. Thanks to him, Jewish holiday dates are the same every year.

The Jewish calendar month has either 29 or 30 days, and a year will comprise twelve or thirteen months. Beacuse it actually takes 12.4 lunar months to complete a yearly cycle (365 and a quarter days), a year does not divide neatly into 12 months. In older times, people would have to rely on seeing a new moon to know when a month began.The Sanhendrin will declare the first of the month, also called rosh chodesh once the people observed the new moon. Another factor in deciding the number of months in the year has to do with the agricultural year. It will take 19 years for a full cycle to repeat itself.There are an extra 7 months during this time.

The Hebrew Calendar

The official calendar of Israel is known as the Hebrew or Jewish calendar.Each month starts and ends once the new moon is seen.The months in the Jewish calendar are: Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul, Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat and Adar. Because the system includes a leap year, every year can have the same dates for public holidays.

Jewish Festivals

Festivals in the Jewish calendar are still widely observed, and accordance with tradition is usually quite strict.They are already part of the customs of the people and they have been mirrors of the national life of the Jews.

Holidays in the Jewish Calendar

Observance of the Jewish festivals is very important.These holidays give them the time to value significant historic events and the time to celebrate and reflect. They also have the benefit of bringing the community closer together. The day of rest is the Shabbat (or Sabbath) and is the most important day of the week. Other days where work is prohibited include the festival days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Shavuot and Sukkot.

The Jewish day starts at sunset which means that holidays actually start the evening before the main festival day. Sometimes an extra day is added to the holiday, but this is not always observed. Normally though, a family will get together on the evening before the main day’s festival activities occur.

For a calendar with all major world religions’ holidays, check out our customized calendar which can be totally customized to suit your business! The customized calendar also contains a lot of useful information including a metric converter, 16 full page months and the dates of all holidays around the world.