Hebrew Date Converter

How the Hebrew calendar works

The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar. Its months follow the moon, with 29 or 30 days each, and its years are kept in step with the seasons by adding a thirteenth month seven times in every 19 years: in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 of the cycle. In those leap years the month of Adar is doubled into Adar I and Adar II, and festivals and anniversaries that fall in Adar are kept in Adar II. A common year has 353, 354 or 355 days; a leap year has 383, 384 or 385. Rosh Hashanah, 1 Tishrei, never falls on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, which is why the length of the year varies.

Years are counted from the traditional date of creation, so 2026 is mostly 5786 and 5787. The year number changes at Rosh Hashanah in September or early October, not on 1 Nisan, even though Nisan is counted as the first month.

Rosh Hashanah dates

Each holiday begins at sunset on the evening before the date shown.

Reading a Hebrew date on a document

Israeli documents usually carry both calendars. Israel's Hebrew Date Law of 1998 requires state bodies to include the Hebrew date in their correspondence and publications, so a birth certificate, identity card appendix or court letter may show, for example, כ״ה בחשון תשפ״ז beside 5 November 2026. Religious documents, such as a ketubah (marriage contract) or a get (bill of divorce), may give only the Hebrew date, often with the day of the week and the place.

The numbers are written in Hebrew letters. Each letter has a value (א = 1, י = 10, ק = 100, ת = 400), the thousands are usually left out of the year, and a geresh (׳) or gershayim (״) marks the result as a number. So תשפ״ז is 400 + 300 + 80 + 7 = 787, meaning 5787. Fifteen and sixteen are written ט״ו and ט״ז (9 + 6, 9 + 7) rather than the letters that would spell part of God's name. The converter shows each result this way so you can compare it with your document.

Sunset, and why converted dates disagree

A Hebrew date starts at nightfall. A child born at 9 p.m. on 4 November 2026 was born on 25 Cheshvan 5787, the Hebrew date of 5 November. Tick "after sunset" in the converter for events in the evening. Many online converters ignore this, which is the most common reason a Hebrew birthday on a family record and a converted date are one day apart. A ketubah signed in the evening is dated by the Hebrew day that had already begun.

Hebrew dates in a certified translation

A translation reproduces the date the document gives. When a document carries only a Hebrew date, we translate it as written ("25 Cheshvan 5787") and add the Gregorian equivalent in square brackets as a translator's note, so a reader at USCIS or a court can follow it without a converter. When the document prints both calendars and they do not match, both are translated as printed and the difference is pointed out; it is not for the translator to decide which one is right.