How to Find Your Jewish Birthday

You can easily find your Jewish birthday online.

The Jewish calendar is based on the lunar month, which means a Jewish calendar date will shift in respect to other calendars, such as the solar-based Gregorian calendar used in the United States. The Jewish calendar is based on 19-year cycles, with each year usually alternating 29-day and 30-day months. There are usually 12 months in the Jewish calendar: Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Sh'vat, Adar, Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av and Elul, but in seven of the 19 years, there is a leap year with Adar replaced with Adar 1 and Adar 2 in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19. The first day of the Jewish calendar is the Biblical date of creation, which corresponds to October 7, 3761 BCE in the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar's year 2010 corresponds to the year 5771 in the Jewish calendar.

Instructions

1. Go to Chabad's Jewish Birthday Calculator website.

2. Type your date of birth in the date field.

3. Click on the time of day you were born, either "Morning" or "Afternoon, Evening or Night." The day begins at nightfall in Judaism.

4. Click "Next." The next page of the Jewish birthday calendar will appear. If you selected "Morning" for the time you were born, you will see your Jewish birthday. If you selected "Afternoon, Evening or Night," you will now be prompted for more information.

5. Click on the "Select a Country" pull-down menu to select the country where you were born, and then click on the "Select a City" pull-down menu to select the city, so the calculator can determine the time of nightfall in the city of your birth. Click "Next."

6. Click on what time you were born, selecting from one of three choices: "Before 4:53 p.m. Standard Time," "After 5:33 p.m. Standard Time" or "Between 4:53 p.m. and 5:33 p.m. Standard Time." Click "Next." Your Jewish birthday will be displayed. For example, a birth date of December 21, 2010 in the Gregorian calendar corresponds to 14 Tevet, 5771.

References

• Chabad: Introduction to the Jewish Calendar
• Congregation Shir Hadash: About the Hebrew Calendar

Resources

• Chabad: Jewish Birthday Calculator