What Is the Hebrew Calendar and How Do You Convert Dates?

The Hebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar: its months follow the moon, but its years are kept in step with the solar year by adding a leap month seven times in a 19-year cycle. You convert a Hebrew date to a Gregorian one (or back) by matching the Hebrew day and month to the corresponding civil date, remembering that Hebrew days begin at sunset and that Hebrew years are numbered in the thousands (5787 corresponds to 2026–27). Hebcal.com provides a free date converter and holiday calendars for any year, past or present, with downloads for Apple, Google, Microsoft Outlook, and other iCalendar-compatible apps.

How the Hebrew calendar is structured

Months and the lunar cycle

Hebrew months begin near the new moon and are either 29 or 30 days long. The year normally has 12 months, starting with Tishrei in the fall. Because 12 lunar months total roughly 354 days—about 11 days short of a solar year—the calendar would drift through the seasons if left alone.

Leap years and the 19-year cycle

To correct that drift, seven leap years are inserted in every 19-year cycle. In a leap year, an extra month (Adar I) is added before Adar, so the year has 13 months. This keeps holidays tied to their seasons—for example, Passover always falls in spring.

How years are numbered

Hebrew years are counted from creation according to Jewish tradition and are currently in the 5780s. The civil year and the Hebrew year overlap rather than align: the Hebrew year 5787 began in the fall of 2026 and runs into 2027. That offset is the single most common source of confusion when converting dates.

Why Hebrew and Gregorian dates differ

Because the two systems use different month lengths, leap rules, and year numbering, the same civil date maps to a different Hebrew date each year, and a Hebrew date can fall in either of two civil years.

How to convert a Hebrew date to a Gregorian date

1. Identify the Hebrew day, month, and year you want to convert—for example, 30th of Tishrei, 5787.
2. Open a Hebrew date converter. Hebcal's converter accepts both Hebrew and Gregorian input and shows today's date in a Hebrew font as well.
3. Enter the Hebrew date and submit it. The tool returns the matching Gregorian date (30th of Tishrei, 5787 corresponds to Sunday, 11 October 2026).
4. Check the sunset caveat. Hebrew dates begin at sunset, so the evening before a given Gregorian date already belongs to the next Hebrew day. If your event is in the evening, verify which Hebrew date applies.
5. Confirm the year offset. If the result looks a year off, check whether you entered the Hebrew year or the civil year—5787 is not 2026, even though they overlap.

To convert in the other direction, enter the Gregorian date and read the Hebrew equivalent from the same tool.

What else you can look up for a given date

Once you have a Hebrew date, Hebcal's calendar tools let you attach practical information to it:

• Holidays — major, minor, and modern holidays, Rosh Chodesh, minor fasts, and special Shabbatot, with a 6-year summary or a custom calendar.
• Shabbat times — candle-lighting and Havdalah times, plus start and end times for fast days, across more than 100,000 world cities.
• Torah readings — aliyah-by-aliyah breakdowns for the weekly parashah, full kriyah, triennial cycle, and weekday readings, with spreadsheets for leyning coordinators.
• Yahrzeits and birthdays — personal lists of Yahrzeit, Yizkor, Hebrew birthday, and anniversary dates for 20+ years, with free annual email reminders.
• Daily learning — Daf Yomi and Mishna Yomi entries for the day.

You can download holidays and Hebrew dates for iPhone, iPad, Android (via Google Calendar), Outlook, macOS Desktop Calendar, or any app that supports iCalendar (.ics) feeds. Developers can embed Hebcal content on a synagogue website through JavaScript, JSON, and RSS APIs under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Common pitfalls when converting dates

• Sunset start times. A Hebrew day runs from sunset to sunset, so a Gregorian evening belongs to the following Hebrew date. This matters for candle-lighting, Yahrzeit, and any event scheduled after dark.
• Year offsets. Hebrew years are roughly 3,760 ahead of Gregorian years, and the two overlap across a fall boundary. Always state which calendar your year number belongs to.
• Leap years. In a leap year, Adar I precedes Adar, so a date in "Adar" can be ambiguous unless you specify which Adar.
• Month order. The Hebrew year begins with Tishrei in the fall, not with the month containing January, so counting months forward from a Gregorian date will not match.
• Location-dependent times. Candle-lighting and Havdalah times depend on the city, so set your location before relying on them.

For a quick answer to "what is today's Hebrew date," the converter displays it directly; for planning, generate a calendar for the specific year and location you need.