For tending the memory
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Yahrzeit Calculator
Enter the Gregorian (civil) date of passing. We'll find the Hebrew date and the next 10 yahrzeit anniversaries — the dates for lighting a memorial candle, saying Kaddish, and visiting.
The Jewish day begins at sunset, not midnight. A passing after sunset already belongs to the next Hebrew calendar day — this can shift the yahrzeit date by one day, so it's worth getting right if you know it.
Looking for a place to light a remembrance flame and keep it tended year after year? Ner Tamid — a shared sky of remembrance — is a sister project going live soon.
How the Yahrzeit Date Is Found
A yahrzeit is the annual Hebrew-calendar anniversary of a loved one's passing. Because the Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, the civil (Gregorian) date of the yahrzeit shifts a little from year to year, even though the Hebrew date stays the same.
All date math on this page runs through @hebcal/core, the open-source library behind hebcal.com, so the underlying calendar conversion is never hand-calculated or guessed.
The leap-year Adar question
Seven times every 19 years, the Hebrew calendar adds a whole extra month — a second Adar — to keep the lunar and solar calendars in sync. If your loved one passed away during the single Adar of a regular (non-leap) year, and a later yahrzeit falls in a leap year, there is a genuine, long-standing disagreement among halachic authorities about which Adar to use. Some communities (including many who follow Chabad custom) mark the primary yahrzeit in Adar I and say Kaddish again in Adar II; other authorities hold that Adar II — the Adar adjacent to Purim and Nisan — is the "real" Adar and should be primary. We show both dates when this applies, clearly labeled, rather than picking one for your family. Please ask your rabbi or follow your family's established custom.
The Cheshvan 30 / Kislev 30 question
Cheshvan and Kislev are the calendar's two variable-length months — 29 or 30 days depending on the year. If your loved one passed away on the 30th day of Cheshvan or Kislev, some later years that month only has 29 days, so there is no 30th to land on. The widely followed custom (documented by Chabad.org) is: if the very first yahrzeit after the passing fell on a 29-day version of the month, observe the yahrzeit on the 29th in every short year afterward; if the first yahrzeit fell on an actual 30th day, observe it on the 1st of the following month (Kislev or Tevet) in short years. This calculator applies that rule automatically based on your entered date.
Frequently asked questions
Do I say Kaddish on the Hebrew date or the civil date?
The Hebrew date. That's the whole reason the date moves around on the civil calendar from year to year — the Hebrew date is what stays fixed to the anniversary.
What if I only know the Hebrew date, not the Gregorian date of death?
Use our Hebrew year converter alongside this tool, or ask a family member for the civil date if it's recorded on a certificate or headstone.
Is the first yahrzeit calculated differently?
No — the first yahrzeit is simply the first time the Hebrew anniversary date recurs, calculated the same way as every year after. Some communities observe additional customs (like the eleven months of Kaddish) that this calculator doesn't cover.
See also: Hebrew Birthday Converter · Jewish Year Converter