Yahrzeit Calculator

A yahrzeit (also spelled jahrzeit) is the Jewish anniversary of death. It is kept on the Hebrew date of the passing, so it moves on the regular calendar every year. This yahrzeit calculator turns the date of passing into the Hebrew date and lists the next 10, 20 or 30 yahrzeit dates, with the evening each one begins. It handles the cases where families most often get the date wrong: a passing after sunset, Adar in a Jewish leap year, and a passing on the 30th of a month that is sometimes missing.

Yahrzeit calculator: find the Hebrew date of death and the next yahrzeit dates

This yahrzeit calculator works from either date. Unlike a plain yahrzeit converter, it also applies the halachic rules for the special cases. Choose whether you know the English (civil) date of the passing or the Hebrew date. If you enter the English date, say whether the passing was before or after sunset, because that decides the Hebrew date. Nothing you type leaves your device: the dates are calculated in your browser and the calendar file is saved straight to your phone or computer.

The table shows each yahrzeit with its Hebrew date in English and in Hebrew letters, the evening it begins and the day itself. Where the halacha gives more than one answer, as with Adar in a leap year, you will see both dates side by side with the source for each, and a note on which to keep. The calendar file adds every date as an all-day event with a reminder from noon the day before, so you have time to arrange a minyan. Together, the dates make a personal yahrzeit calendar for the years ahead.

How the yahrzeit date is calculated

A yahrzeit on the Hebrew calendar is the Jewish anniversary of the death, not of the English date. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 568:8) rules that the day kept is the day of death, not the day of burial, and the Rema in Yoreh De’ah 402:12 writes the same. Because the Hebrew calendar is a lunar year with a month added seven times in nineteen years, the same Hebrew date falls on a different English date every year. That is why a yahrzeit date calculator is needed at all.

You can also find the yahrzeit date by hand, in four steps. Most mistakes happen in the first one, so it is worth getting the details of the passing right before anything else.

The yahrzeit calculator above runs exactly these steps, using the fixed rules of the Hebrew calendar, so it gives the same result as a printed luach for any year. It also looks at the year after the passing where the halacha depends on it, which a simple yahrzeit converter that only swaps the date does not do.

Before or after sunset: the detail that changes the date

The Jewish day begins in the evening. A passing on Tuesday afternoon and a passing on Tuesday night fall on two different Hebrew dates, and so the yahrzeit is kept on two different days. This is the most common reason families find that the date they have kept for years is off by one. So for a passing after sunset, the yahrzeit is kept on the next Hebrew date.

The time between sunset and the appearance of the stars is called bein hashmashos, and it is a time of doubt: it may belong to the day that is ending or to the night that is beginning. If the passing happened then, or if nobody remembers exactly when it was, choose the third option in the yahrzeit calculator. It shows the date for each possibility, and you can ask your rav which one to keep. Whatever the answer, keep the same date every year.

Hospital and death certificates give the civil date and often a time. Check the time against sunset in that place on that day, not against the clock at home. In summer, sunset can be after eight in the evening, and in winter before five. If the passing was after sunset, the yahrzeit moves to the next Hebrew day, and the yahrzeit calculator does this for you.

When the yahrzeit begins and ends

Every Hebrew day runs from nightfall to nightfall, and the yahrzeit is no different. It begins at sundown on the evening before the English date shown in the table and ends at nightfall on the day itself. If the table says the day of the yahrzeit is a Thursday, the yahrzeit begins on Wednesday evening.

That evening the yahrzeit candle is lit, at home, and it is meant to burn for the whole day. Kaddish for the yahrzeit starts at Maariv of that evening and continues at Shacharis and Mincha the next day. This is why the yahrzeit calculator gives you two dates for every year: the evening that everything starts, and the day of the yahrzeit itself.

Kaddish needs a minyan of ten men. In the year of mourning that means three prayers a day for eleven months, and not every family has a son who can be at a minyan every time, at home or while travelling. Many also want to add learning and tzedakah that they cannot arrange on their own.

Yahrzeit in a leap year: which Adar?

For a passing in Adar of a regular year, the yahrzeit in a leap year is in Adar I by custom, or in Adar II by the Shulchan Aruch.

A Jewish leap year has two months of Adar, Adar I and Adar II. A passing in Adar of a regular year raises a question in every leap year that follows: which Adar is the yahrzeit? The Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 568:7 rules Adar II. The Rema writes that some say Adar I, and that this is the custom. Ashkenazim generally follow the Rema, and communities that follow the rulings of the Shulchan Aruch keep Adar II. Your rav can tell you which applies to your family.

The Rema adds that some are strict and keep both. The Mishnah Berurah (568:42) explains that the yahrzeit is a custom, so a person continues as he did the first time a leap year came round. The first time, it is best to keep both days, and if that is hard, Adar I. When the passing itself was in a leap year, the month is already clear, as the table of each yahrzeit in Adar shows.

The last row needs a word of explanation. Adar I always has 30 days, but in a regular year Adar has only 29, so the 30th of Adar I has no twin. Its 30th day is the first day of Rosh Chodesh Adar II, and the Mishnah Berurah rules that in a regular year it is kept on the first day of Rosh Chodesh Adar, which is 30 Shevat. When you enter Adar in the yahrzeit calculator, it marks which date follows the Rema and which follows the Shulchan Aruch, so you can keep your own custom at a glance.

A passing on 30 Cheshvan or 30 Kislev

Cheshvan and Kislev are the two months whose length changes. In some years they have 30 days, in others 29. A passing on the 30th of one of these months has no exact date in a year when that month is short. The Magen Avraham (568:20), brought in the Mishnah Berurah 568:42, decides by the first year after the passing:

• If the month had 30 days in the first year after the passing, the yahrzeit is fixed on the first day of the following month, which is Rosh Chodesh, in every short year that comes after.
• If the month had only 29 days in the first year after the passing, the yahrzeit is fixed on the 29th of the month in short years.
• In any year when the month has 30 days, the yahrzeit is simply on the 30th.

The Mishnah Berurah writes that the common practice follows the Magen Avraham, and that some later authorities say to keep Rosh Chodesh in every case. The yahrzeit calculator follows the Magen Avraham, a step a plain yahrzeit converter skips, and labels each date with the rule it used. If your family has always kept the date differently, keep your custom and ask your rav.

The first yahrzeit: the day of death, not the day of burial

The first yahrzeit comes on the first anniversary of the Hebrew date of death. It is easy to confuse with the end of the twelve months of mourning, which are counted from the day of burial. The Mishnah Berurah (568:44) writes that even in the first year the yahrzeit is on the day of death. He adds that some say that when the burial took place a few days after the passing, the first yahrzeit is kept on the day of burial, but that in the years after that everyone keeps the day of death.

The Rema (Yoreh De’ah 402:12) mentions an exception for a son who was present at the burial but not at the passing. If that describes your family, or if the burial was days after the passing, ask your rav before the first yahrzeit. In the yahrzeit calculator table, the first yahrzeit is marked so it stands out.

The first year is also when Kaddish is said every day. A son says Kaddish for his father or mother at every prayer for eleven months. If that is not possible, you can arrange Kaddish for the mourning year with Torah scholars in Israel, who say it in a fixed minyan at each prayer.

When the yahrzeit falls on Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh or Yom Tov

The yahrzeit date itself never moves. If it falls on Shabbos, the candle is lit before Shabbos begins and Kaddish is said as on any other yahrzeit. What changes is the fast that many keep on the day of a parent’s yahrzeit. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 568:9) writes that when the day falls on Shabbos or Rosh Chodesh the fast is pushed to the next day. The Rema writes that the custom is not to fast at all, and the same applies to every day on which Tachanun is not said.

The yahrzeit calculator marks every yahrzeit that falls on Shabbos, so you can prepare the candle in time. Since a yahrzeit candle has to be lit before Shabbos or Yom Tov begins, check the table a few days ahead whenever the yahrzeit is close to one.

If you do not know the exact date of death

Sometimes the date was never recorded, or a family learns of a passing only later. The Mishnah Berurah (568:42), in the name of the Maharshal, writes that one who does not know the day his father or mother passed away chooses a day for himself. He adds a condition: such a person should not take away the Kaddish of other mourners who know their date. Choose the date with your rav, enter it in the yahrzeit calculator, and keep it every year. If the English date is known but not the time of day, choose the third option in the yahrzeit calculator to see both possible Hebrew dates, and settle on one with your rav.

What to do on the yahrzeit

The customs of the day are few and well known, and all of them are for the merit of the soul. Many families keep these:

• Light a yahrzeit candle at sundown on the evening the yahrzeit begins, one that burns for the whole day.
• Say Kaddish at Maariv, Shacharis and Mincha. The Rema (Yoreh De’ah 376:4) writes that a son says Kaddish on his parent’s yahrzeit every year, and that one who is able to lead the prayers does so. If you need the words, here is the Mourner’s Kaddish text with transliteration.
• Learn Torah for the soul, often Mishnayos, whose letters are the letters of the word neshamah.
• Give tzedakah in the name of the departed.
• Fast, for those whose custom is to fast on the yahrzeit of a father or mother, except on days when Tachanun is not said.

Keep the dates: a yahrzeit calendar file and printout

Once you have the yahrzeit dates, save them where you will see them. In the yahrzeit date calculator, the “Save to my calendar” button creates one file with every yahrzeit you asked for, which opens in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and Outlook. Each one is an all-day event on the day of the yahrzeit, with the Hebrew date in the title and a reminder from noon the day before, so you have time to buy a candle and arrange a minyan. If you entered a name, it appears in every event.

The “Print the dates” button prints only the yahrzeit calculator and its table, ready to keep in a siddur or on the fridge. Families often print one copy for each sibling, so that everyone keeps the same date.

A printed yahrzeit calendar from a shul, listing each yahrzeit on the Hebrew calendar with its English date, does the same job. What matters is that the date was worked out correctly once, with the sunset and Adar questions settled, and then kept the same way every year.

Questions and answers about the yahrzeit date