Jewish Calendars - Jewish Books

The Hebrew calendar (Hebrew: הלוח העברי) or Jewish calendar is the annual calendar used in Judaism. It determines the dates of the Jewish holidays, the appropriate Torah portions for public reading, Yahrzeits (the date to commemorate the death of a relative), and the specific daily Psalms which some customarily read. Two major forms of the calendar have been used: an observational form used prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and based on witnesses observing the phase of the moon, and a rule-based form first fully described by Maimonides in 1178 CE, which was adopted over a transition period between 70 and 1178.

The "modern" form is a rule-based lunisolar calendar, akin to the Chinese calendar, measuring months defined in lunar cycles as well as years measured in solar cycles, and distinct from the purely lunar Islamic calendar and the almost entirely solar Gregorian calendar. Because of the roughly 11 day difference between twelve lunar months and one solar year, the calendar repeats in a Metonic 19-year cycle of 235 lunar months, with an extra lunar month added once every two or three years, for a total of seven times every nineteen years. As the Hebrew calendar was developed in the region east of the Mediterranean Sea, references to seasons reflect the times and climate of the Northern Hemisphere.

Hebrew names of the months with their Babylonian analogs
	Hebrew name	Length	Babylonian analog	Notes
1	Nisan / Nissan	30 days	Nisanu	called Aviv in the Tanakh
2	Iyar	29 days	Ayaru	called Ziv in the Tanakh
3	Sivan	30 days	Simanu
4	Tammuz	29 days	Du`uzu
5	Av	30 days	Abu
6	Elul	29 days	Ululu
7	Tishrei	30 days	Tashritu	called Eitanim in the Tanakh
8	Cheshvan	29 or 30 days	Arakhsamna	also spelled Heshvan or Marcheshvan; called Bul in the Tanakh
9	Kislev	30 or 29 days	Kislimu	also spelled Chislev
10	Tevet	29 days	Tebetu
11	Shevat	30 days	Shabatu
12	Adar I	30 days	Adaru	Only in leap years
13	Adar / Adar II	29 days	Adaru

During leap years Adar I (or Adar Aleph — "first Adar") is considered to be the extra month, and has 30 days. Adar II (or Adar Bet — "second Adar") is the "real" Adar, and has 29 days as usual. For example, in a leap year, the holiday of Purim is in Adar II, not Adar I.

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