Jewish Holiday Calendar

The Jewish calendar begins with Rosh Hashana (New Year), which usually occurs in September or October. Thus, the Jewish Year straddles two years of the civil calendar.
The Jewish day begins and ends at sundown. Thus, all holidays begin at sundown of the day preceding the date shown and end at sundown of the (last) day shown.

Jewish Holidays 5772 – Dates in 2011-2012

Rosh HaShana
Jewish New Year

September 29-30, 2011
Thurs-Fri

A two-day festival during which work is not permitted.

Yom Kippur
Day of Atonement

October 8, 2011
Saturday

The most solemn day of the Jewish year.

Sukkot

Festival of Booths
(Feast of Tabernacles)

Oct 13-19, 2011
Thurs.-Wed

Sukkot or The Feast of Tabernacles, commemorates the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, and celebrates the way in which God took special care of them under impossible conditions. Sukkot lasts for seven days, and work is not permitted on the first two days.

Shemini Atzeret

October 20, 2011
Thurs

Shemini Atzeret can be translated as “the assembly of the eighth (day).” In Israel the festival is combined with Simchat Torah.

Simchat Torah

October 21, 2011
Fri
Israel: October 20, 2011
Thurs

Simchat Torah means “Rejoicing in the Torah.” This holiday marks the completion of the yearly cycle of weekly Torah readings.

Hanukkah

December 21-28, 2011
Wed-Wed

Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights and marks the restoration of the temple by the Maccabees in 164 BCE. Hanukkah is celebrated at roughly the same time as Christmas, but there is no connection at all between the festivals.

Tu B’Shvat
New Year for Trees

February 8, 2012
Wed

The Jewish New Year for trees – For religious accounting purposes all trees have their anniversaries on this festival, regardless of when they were planted.

Purim

March 8, 2012
Thurs

Purim commemorates the time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination by the courage of a young Jewish woman called Esther.

Pesach
Passover

April 7-14, 2012
Sat-Sat
Israel: April 7-13, 2012
Sat-Fri

The start of the season of Passover when Jews commemorate the liberation of the Children of Israel who were led out of Egypt by Moses. Work is not permitted on the first two and the last two days of Passover

Yom HaShoah
Holocaust Remembrance Day

April 19, 2012
Thurs

The Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day. The date is chosen as the closest date (in the Jewish calendar) to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Yom HaZikaron
Israel’s Memorial Day

April 25, 2012
Wed

A day of remembrance on the day preceding Israel’s Independence Day.

Yom HaAtzmaut
Israel’s Independence Day

April 26, 2012
Thurs

(May 14, 1948)

Lag B’Omer

May 10, 2012
Thurs

A minor holiday on the 33rd day of the Omer commemorating a break in the plague during the lifetime of Rabbi Akiva.

Shavuot
Pentecost

May 27-28, 2012
Sun-Mon
Israel: May 27, 2012
Sun

Shavuot is a two-day festival that marks the time when the first harvest was taken to the Temple. Also known as the Festival of Weeks. Work is not permitted for the duration of the festival.

Tisha B’Av
Ninth of Av

July 29, 2012
Sun

A solemn day that commemorates a series of tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people over the years, including the destruction of both the first and second Temples which occured on this date.