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What does a Hebrew year look
like?
An ordinary (non-leap) year has
353, 354, or 355 days. A leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days. The
three lengths of the years are termed, "deficient'',
"regular'', and "complete'', respectively.
An ordinary year has 12 months, a
leap year has 13 months.
Every month starts
(approximately) on the day of a new moon.
The months and their lengths are:
| Name |
Length in a
deficient year |
Length in a
regular year |
Length in a
complete year |
| Tishri |
30 |
30 |
30 |
| Heshvan |
29 |
29 |
30 |
| Kislev |
29 |
30 |
30 |
| Tevet |
29 |
29 |
29 |
| Shevat |
30 |
30 |
30 |
| Adar I |
30 |
30 |
30) |
| Adar II |
29 |
29 |
29 |
| Nisan |
30 |
30 |
30 |
| Iyar |
29 |
29 |
29 |
| Sivan |
30 |
30 |
30 |
| Tammuz |
29 |
29 |
29 |
| Av |
30 |
30 |
30 |
| Elul |
29 |
29 |
29 |
| Total: |
353 or
383 |
354 or
384 |
355 or
385 |
The month Adar I is only
present in leap years. In non-leap years Adar II is simply
called ``Adar''.
Note that in a regular year the
numbers 30 and 29 alternate; a complete year is created by adding
a day to Heshvan, whereas a deficient year is created by removing
a day from Kislev.
The alteration of 30 and 29
ensures that when the year starts with a new moon, so does each
month.
What years are leap years?
A year is a leap year if the
number year mod 19 is one of the following: 0, 3, 6, 8,
11, 14, or 17.
The value for year in this
formula is the ``Anno Mundi'' described below.
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