Memorial
Yahrzeit calculator
Enter the Gregorian date of death and this converts it to the Hebrew date, then gives you the next fifteen years. Where a Hebrew date does not exist in a given year, the table says so rather than guessing quietly.
Years listed
15
starting from the next anniversary, not the death
The candle
Sundown
lit the evening before the date shown
Mourner's Kaddish
11 months
it ends before the first yahrzeit
Hebrew year
353 to 385
days, which is why the civil date moves
The calculator
Enter the date of death
If the death was after sundown, tick the box: the Hebrew day had already turned, and the yahrzeit moves by one.
Upcoming yahrzeit dates
| Yahrzeit | Hebrew year | Gregorian date | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd | 5787 | September 19, 2027 | |
| 3rd | 5788 | September 8, 2028 | |
| 4th | 5789 | August 28, 2029 | |
| 5th | 5790 | September 15, 2030 | |
| 6th | 5791 | September 5, 2031 | |
| 7th | 5792 | August 24, 2032 | |
| 8th | 5793 | September 11, 2033 | |
| 9th | 5794 | September 1, 2034 | |
| 10th | 5795 | September 21, 2035 | |
| 11th | 5796 | September 9, 2036 | |
| 12th | 5797 | August 28, 2037 | |
| 13th | 5798 | September 17, 2038 | |
| 14th | 5799 | September 6, 2039 | |
| 15th | 5800 | August 26, 2040 | |
| 16th | 5801 | September 13, 2041 |
Each date begins at sundown the evening before. Where a note appears, communities differ on the correct practice; ask your rabbi rather than taking this table as a ruling.
The candle is lit at sundown the evening before the date shown. Sunset times for your city will tell you when that is.
Why it moves
One Hebrew date, a different civil date every year
A Hebrew month is one cycle of the moon, 29 or 30 days, and twelve of them come to 353, 354 or 355 days. That is about eleven days short of the solar year, so a fixed Hebrew date slides earlier against the Gregorian calendar every year.
Seven years in every nineteen add a thirteenth month and run 383 to 385 days, which pushes the date back again. The result is an anniversary that moves within a window of a few weeks rather than drifting through the seasons.
The Hebrew date itself does not move. It is the same day of the same month every year, which is why families keep the Hebrew date rather than the civil one: it is the one that stays put across generations.
On the day
What is usually done
Practice varies between communities and between families. This is the common shape of it.
- A memorial candle is lit at sundown the evening before, and burns for 24 hours.
- Kaddish is said at each of the day's three services, which needs a minyan.
- Many families give tzedakah, or study a passage, in the person's memory.
- Some visit the grave, though the custom about when to go varies by community.
The contested cases
Where communities differ, and what this tool does
Three dates have no single agreed answer. The table above flags each one in the row it affects, and this is the reasoning behind those notes.
30 Cheshvan and 30 Kislev
Both months have 30 days in some years and 29 in others. Whether a short year falls back to the 29th or rolls forward to the 1st of the next month is settled by what happened in the first anniversary year, and the table says which rule it applied.
A death in Adar
A leap year has two Adars. Ashkenazi practice, following the Rema, keeps the yahrzeit in Adar I; Sephardi practice uses Adar II. The table shows Adar I and names the alternative rather than hiding the split.
30 Adar I
That date is the first day of Rosh Chodesh Adar II, so in an ordinary year with only one Adar there is no matching date. The equivalent used here is 30 Shevat, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Adar.
None of this is a ruling. Where the table carries a note, the practice is a matter of custom, and your rabbi or your family's own minhag settles it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a yahrzeit?+
The annual anniversary of a death, marked on the Hebrew calendar rather than the Gregorian one. A memorial candle is lit at sundown the evening before, Kaddish is said, and many people give tzedakah or study in the person's memory.
Why does the date move every year?+
Because the Hebrew year is lunisolar and runs 353 to 385 days. A fixed Hebrew date lands on a different Gregorian date each year, drifting up to about a month before a leap month pulls it back.
What if the death happened after sunset?+
Then it belongs to the next Hebrew day, because Hebrew days start in the evening. Tick the after-sunset box above and the calculation shifts by one day.
What about deaths on 30 Cheshvan, 30 Kislev or in Adar?+
These are the genuinely contested cases. Cheshvan and Kislev have 30 days in some years and 29 in others, and a leap year has two Adars. Communities follow different rules, and this tool flags every year where an adjustment was needed rather than presenting a single answer as settled. Ask your rabbi for your family's practice.
When is the first yahrzeit?+
Usually on the first Hebrew anniversary of the death, though for the first year some communities count from the burial instead. The eleven months of mourner's Kaddish end before that.