







Before we start, there are some Hebrew words you need to know:

Day - Yom - יוֹם

Week - Shavua - שָׁבוּע

Month - Kh'odesh - חוֹדֵשׁ

Year - Shana - שָׁנַה





Hebrew and Gregorian Calendars are very much alike, but there are some differences:

The numerical method for days / years is in Hebrew letters (Gematria - click here to learn how to calculate Hebrew letters to numbers)

A week starts with Sunday, not Monday.

In Hebrew Calendar a year length is 353 - 355 days long (Gregorian Calendar year length is 365 days).

In Hebrew Calendar the year is 5778, In Gregorian 2017.

The 12 months have different names.

Hebrew Calendar claims to begin at the birth of the world, Gregorian at the birth of Jesus.

Now let's move on to the Hebrew months:

Nisan - נִיסָן Holidays: Passover I Length: 30 days. Iyar - אִיָּר Holidays: Passover II, Lag Ba'Omer Length: 29 days. Sivan - סִיוָן Holidays: Shavuot Length: 30 days. Tamuz - תַּמּוּז Length: 30 days. Av - אָב Holidays: Tisha B'Av, Tu B'Av (the Hebrew "Valentines Day") Length: 30 days. Elul - אֱלוּל Length: 29 days. Tishrei - תִּשׁרִי‬ Holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot. Length: 30 days. March'eshvan - מַרְחֶשְׁוָן Length: 29 / 30 days. Kislev - כִּסְלֵו Holidays: Ch'annukah Length: 29 / 30 days. Tevet - טֵבֵת Length: 29 days. Shvat - שְׁבָט Holidays: Tu Bishvat Length: 30 days. *Adar - אֲדָר Holidays: Purim Length: 30 days / 59 days (as Adar א & Adar ב)

Have some fun with this Hebrew song about the months:

Why Adar Might Be So Long?

Adar is a tricky month, in a cycle of every 19 years, it will split to "Adar I and Adar II" for 7 times:

Years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 are "Leap Years", when "Adar" is actually "Adar I - 30 days" and "Adar II - 29 days".

Here is a great mathematical way to remember which years are leap years:

Credit to Daniel Ben Noach, click to read the full thread.

Now you probably ask yourself Why, the answer is very simple, without the insertion of leap years, Jewish festivals would gradually shift outside of the seasons required by the Torah. So this method keeps the holidays at their rightful seasons.

Now that you know all that

Today it's ז׳ טֵבֵת ה'תשע"ח, which is translated to 7 / Tevet / 5778.

ז = 7

Tevet = טֵבֵת

ה'תשע"ח = 5778

Gregorian - 25.12.17

You can keep track on the Hebrew Date here, but the "Hebrew Dates" are in English, so you can use this website, to have a fully Hebrew version.

Use the calendar and go back all the way to your Birthdate, now you know your Hebrew Birthdate :)

Now use it and comment your Hebrew Birthdate! :)

#Religion #Vocabulary #History #Hebrew #Calendar