Copyright: HEBREW CALENDAR HELP


Main Menu

The Main Menu is the principal window for HEBREW CALENDAR and is divided into two panels:

Location Panel -  Displays information about the current date, as well as the next day, as determined by your computer's internal calendar.

Main Menu Panel - Provides access to the other principal functions of HEBREW CALENDAR.

 - Pops-up the Personal Reminders list.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


QuickDate

QuickDate is a mini-window that facilitates date conversion. This mini-window also displays holidays, observances, sunrise, sunset and the hour-of-time. You also have the options, set in Preferences, having QuickDate pop-up automatically when starting HEBREW CALENDAR and having QuickDate stay on top of all other windows.

The QuickDate feature is accessed from the Main Menu or from Calendars and Readings.

The Date text box allows you to directly enter either a Common or Hebrew date in YYYY-MM-DD (year-month-day) format. To assist you in entering a month number, a panel displays the appropriate months for the type of year entered.

Copy - Copies the dates to the Windows Clipboard.

«» - Sets the size of the QuickDate window. This is convenient when used with the Stay On Top preference.

Goto Date - When used from the Calendars and Readings window, sets the calendars to the date displayed on the QuickDate.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Anniversaries

HEBREW CALENDAR provides for yahrzeits, birthdays and general anniversaries (any annual event). Birthdays and general anniversaries use the same set of rules. The rules are described below.

Although users are generally expected to observe anniversaries based on Hebrew dates, HEBREW CALENDAR offers the choice of observing any particular anniversary based on either the Common or Hebrew calendar. By default, the Hebrew calendar is used. This can be changed by checking Observe Common in the Anniversaries window.

When entering anniversary data, first choose Yahrzeit, Birthday or Anniversary. Check Observe Common if you want to observe the event using the Common calendar. Enter the Common date, checking After Sunset, if appropriate, for Hebrew observances.

Note: The time of sunset is significant for Hebrew observance, since Hebrew dates start at sunset.

Enter the person's Common Name. The Hebrew Name and Relationship is optional. Press OK to display the list of anniversaries. Selected portions  of the list may be printed or copied to the Clipboard.

You may also create your own anniversary database by using the Personal List feature. You can save anniversaries, birthdays and yahrzeits independently.  The list is managed from the Personal Anniversary List window.

Note: The anniversary database is saved in file PERSONAL.DAT.

Anniversary Rules

For Hebrew observances, HEBREW CALENDAR incorporates rules for both birthday (same as for general anniversaries) and yahrzeit anniversaries which consider variations imposed by different lengths of the months of Heshvan and Kislev plus the extra month (Adar I) in leap years. The complications are analogous to events that occur on February 29 in a Common leap year. The rules are as follows:

Birth or Death on the 30th of Heshvan or Kislev:

 Birthday Anniversary: On the 30th, if it exists, else on the 1st of the next month.

 Yahrzeit Anniversary: If the month in the first year after the death has 30 days, observe on the 30th if it exists, else on the 1st of the next month. If the month in the first year after the death has 29 days, observe on the 30th, if it exists, else on the 29th.

Birth or Death in Adar:

 Ordinary Year Anniversary: Both in Adar.

 Leap Year Anniversary: Birthdays in Adar II. Yahrzeits in Adar I.

Birth or Death in Adar I of a Leap Year:

 Ordinary Year Anniversary: Adar.

 Leap Year Anniversary: Adar I.

Birth or Death on 30 Adar I:

 Ordinary Year Anniversary: Birthdays on the 1st of Nisan. Yahrzeits on the 30th of Shevat.

 Leap Year Anniversary: Both on the 30th of Adar I.

Birth or Death in Adar II:

 Ordinary Year Anniversary: Adar.

 Leap Year Anniversary: Adar II.

The only special rule for Common observances is that February 29 events are observed on February 28 in ordinary years.

Note: Since two-thirds of the Hebrew years are shorter than Common years, two Hebrew observances may occur in a single Common year, typically in January and December.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Calendars and Readings

    	Calendar Facts     Hebrew Years

The Calendars and Readings window provides a comprehensive tool for studying the relationships between the Common and Hebrew calendars. The selected date is displayed with a square and holidays/observances are displayed with a circle.

Specific years may be entered directly into the text boxes or advanced in steps of 1, 10, or 100 years using the arrow ("spin") buttons. Months are selected by clicking the drop-down list boxes. Months may also be changed in one-month increments using the arrow buttons. To select a specific day, click the day number in either calendar panel.

For each selected date, the bottom panels display sunrise, sunset, Hour-of-Time, and holidays/observances. For Shabbat, candle lighting and ending times are also displayed.

Click the Holiday & Observance Information button for a description of the displayed event.

Click the Sha'a Zmanit button for the Zmanim list. Default Friday candle lighting and Saturday end of Shabbat times may be set in Preferences. In addition, location-specific times may be entered using Location Setup.

Note: All times displayed are Standard Time. If appropriate for your location, you must add 1-hour to the times shown during extended daylight periods, e.g., Daylight Savings Time.

Today - Sets the calendars to the current date determined by your computer's clock.

QuickDate - Provides the QuickDate window to use for direct date entry.

Notes - Enter notes for the date shown. These notes may be printed in the calendars and will appear in the Personal Reminders list.

 Prints either the Hebrew or Common calendars. See Printing the Calendars.

Show Holidays - Check this box to display holidays. It may be desirable to turn off the holiday display on slower computers to speed up calendar generation.

Save Date On Exit - When checked, the selected date will be saved in the HEBCAL.CFG file and will be restored when you return to the screen, even after exiting HEBREW CALENDAR.

Readings - Torah and haftarah readings are available for shabbat, Rosh Hodesh and holidays. Reading selections are defined in Reference 3, the specific readings for each shabbat are defined in Reference 4.

Shortcut: The readings may also be accessed by clicking the right mouse button when the mouse is over a Saturday or holiday.

 - Pops-up the Personal Reminders list.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


City List

The City List provides a database of locations complete with latitude, longitude and time zone offset. If your city is not listed, you must enter this information on the Location Setup window, then Save to City List.

Delete From List - Removes a city from the database.

Select - Select location for use with HEBREW CALENDAR.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Calendar Print Options
Calendar Printing Options

Calendars are printed from the Calendars and Readings window by clicking either [image]. See Printing Calendars.

You may choose any TrueType font installed on your system for each of the seven sections of the calendar printouts: title, day-of-the-week, day number, times, day data, alternate date and footer. You may also set color, size, bold and italics attributes. You can see the effect of each font change in the print preview panel.

Shortcut: You can select the font to change by double-clicking the text in the preview panel.

Selection of fonts may be made by either using the buttons or double-clicking on the corresponding text in the print preview panel.

Tip: If printing the Readings, 6 point type is suggested for the day data to avoid cutting off or overlapping any text.

Set All - Clicking one of the buttons will set all fonts to the one selected.

Print - If unchecked, the selected text will not print and will appear grayed-out in the print preview panel.

Note: There are two check boxes provided for printing the times. You have the option of printing:

Sunrise and sunset times only (check left box)

Shabbat times only (check right box)

Both (check both boxes)

Capitalize Holidays - When checked, holidays and observances are printed with all upper case letters. This does not affect other day data.

Monochrome - Forces black and white printing regardless of colors set. Color preferences are still retained.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Printing Calendars

Calendars are printed from the Calendars and Readings window by clicking on either printer icon.

The Print Calendars window allows you to set the number of consecutive months to print; type of calendar, Hebrew or Common; orientation, portrait or landscape; and choice of data.

Data options include notes, anniversaries, holidays/observances and readings.

The Omer count will be printed with the alternate date at the bottom of each day during the months of Nisan, Iyar, and Sivan.

Click Options to change fonts and select portions of the calendars to be printed.

You may enter a two line message in Title Message. This will print with the same font that is set for the calendar title.

If you have already selected your options, click Print.

Anniversaries are printed with the following notation:

Y. = Yahrzeit

B. = Birthday

A. = General Anniversary

Printing Problems

HEBREW CALENDAR uses the standard Windows printer drivers. If you find that your calendars do not print correctly, you may have insufficient memory in your printer or there may be a compatibility problem with your Windows printer driver. Experiment with different drivers or driver settings. If problems persist, consult the manufacturer of your printer.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Personal Anniversary List

Anniversaries may be saved to the list from the Anniversaries window. The Personal Anniversary List provides a convenient means for viewing the yahrzeits, birthdays and general anniversaries that you have entered. Anniversaries are listed by the name of the individual and the date of the next observance.

The Personal Anniversary List window provides the ability to see all (List All) anniversaries for a full year from the current date, or only for a selected number of days. For example, to see whose birthday occurs during the next 30 days, enter 30 and click Day Limited List.

There are several capabilities that extend the utility of this list. First the entire list may be printed using Print. Secondly, selected observances can be copied to the Windows Clipboard using Copy.

This tab delimited Clipboard copy may be then be pasted into other applications to generate database type of information, which could be useful for producing yahrzeit or birthday notices, for example.

Similarly, using Save to File allows you to save the tab delimited list to a file with any name that you choose.

Lastly, anniversaries saved to the Personal Anniversary List may be printed in the calendars and will appear in the Personal Reminders list.

Day Limited List - List observances within day range that you have set.

Note: This day range is independent of the days used for the Personal Reminders list.

List All - List all observances regardless of the day limit set.

Delete From List - Delete selected names and anniversaries.

Select - Select first highlighted name to place into the Anniversary window, where it can be modified or a complete list of observance dates can be generated.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Location Setup

To obtain accurate sunrise and sunset times for your location you must enter the latitude, longitude and time offset for your location on the Location Setup window. Your city may already be listed in the City List database. Click the button to pop-up the list.

If your location is not in the database, latitude and longitude can usually be found an atlas or you may be able to get the information from your local weather bureau or airport. Latitude and Longitude are entered in two parts: degrees and minutes. The degree portion will be negative if you are east of the Greenwich meridian (for example, Israel) or below the equator (for example, Australia).

The Universal Time Offset is determined by your time zone with respect to Coordinated Universal Time, or Greenwich Mean Time. Use a negative offset if you are east of Greenwich (for example, Israel is -2).

If a high degree of time accuracy is important to you, you can enter the Elevation, in meters above sea level. Again, an airport or weather bureau is your best source of this information. If you do not use elevation, the accuracy of either sunrise or sunset could be off by about three minutes at 300 meters and five minutes at 1500 meters.

Note: The distributed CITIES.DAT file provides elevation for Canton, Ohio only.

If you prefer to use different shabbat times than those set in Preferences for a particular location, you can make the changes in Local Shabbat Times. These changes may be unique for each location and can be saved to the city list.

Note: The distributed CITIES.DAT file provides local shabbat time for Jerusalem only.

Lastly, enter the name of your city or location in the City or Location Name text box. Once you have entered all the information, click Save to City List to make it a permanent part of your database.

Note: The city list is stored as file CITIES.DAT.

Save as Default - If clicked, the currently displayed location will be saved to the HEBCAL.CFG file and will be used each time you start HEBREW CALENDAR. If you don't save the location as the default, you may continue to use the location until you exit the program. This is convenient if you are doing trip planning and need to coordinate times in different locations.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Observances and Holidays

Editing Readings, Holidays and Months Text     Observances

Use the arrow buttons to set to the desired year in 1, 10, or 100 year steps. Holidays and observances are displayed for a complete Hebrew year. Click on a check box (X) for a description of the selected observance.

You may edit the holiday names and descriptions from Preferences.

The plus (+) or minus (-) sign that may appear in the last column indicates postponement or advancement of a particular observance. This occurs to shift the holiday from Friday or Saturday so as not to conflict with the observance of Shabbat.

FAST DAYS - If fast days occur on Saturday, they are postponed to Sunday except for the Fast of Esther, which is advanced to Thursday due to Purim. These are noted with (+) and (-), respectively.

YIZKOR SERVICES - Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeret, last day of Passover and second (first in Israel) day of Shavuot.

YOM HA'ATZMAUT - Advanced to Thursday if occurs on Saturday or Friday and denoted with a (-).

YOM HASHOAH - Advanced to Thursday if occurs on Saturday or Friday and denoted with a (-).

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Month Relationships
Month Relationships - Rosh Hodesh

Relationships are shown between the first of each month and its converted equivalent. Clicking Switch alternates between Common and Hebrew years. This provides a convenient listing for determining Rosh Hodesh dates for each year.

Clicking Print Month will print a zmanim table for the selected month, or months. You may choose either portrait or landscape orientation. However, depending on the extent of the zmanim included and paper size, parts of the table may not fit. There is no means to adjust this.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Personal Preferences

HEBREW CALENDAR offers several options to allow you to customize certain features to suit your personal preferences or requirements. From the Main Menu, click Preferences.

Note: All preferences are saved in the HEBCAL.CFG file.

The QuickDate feature provides two capabilities: rapid date entry and the ability to stay on top, or float, over all open windows. The following preferences are available:

 Save Position - If checked, the position of the QuickDate window, when last used, is saved.

 Keep On Top - If checked, the QuickDate window will stay on top of all open windows, otherwise it may be covered.

 Show At Start - If checked, the QuickDate window will appear immediately when HEBREW CALENDAR starts, rather than the Main Menu.

Readings/Holidays - The length of observance of the Shavuot and Passover holidays differs in Israel. This affects the dates on which these holidays occur and alters the shabbat Torah reading cycle. In Israel, Simchat Torah is observed on Shemini Atzeret. If you reside in Israel, or observe the Israeli holiday traditions, set Israel, otherwise set Diaspora.

Date Format - Select your preference for month-day-year or day-month-year format. This affects how dates are displayed, on screen, as well as when printed.

Shabbat Defaults - The times shown will be used for all locations unless you have specifically changed one or both for a particular location. Each has a range of 90 minutes. Defaults are 18 minutes before sunset on Friday for candle lighting and 45 minutes after sunset on Saturday for ending.

Time Format - You may select either 12- or 24-hour time formats. This affects how time is displayed as well as when printed.

If Prompt On Exit is checked, you will be asked for confirmation before exiting from HEBREW CALENDAR, otherwise clicking Shalom (<Alt-S>) or using <Alt-X> will immediately exit.

If Show Help Tips is checked, yellow, boxed text messages will appear below the control pointed to by the mouse to provide additional context-sensitive help.

For the Personal Reminders list, you may select the number of days to "look ahead." If you would like the list to pop-up whenever you start HEBREW CALENDAR, check Show at Start. The list will not pop-up if there no events in the list.

Note: If you have selected Show at Start for QuickDate, then the reminder list will not show automatically when starting HEBREW CALENDAR.

Edit Text or Options - You may choose to edit the Month Names, Holiday names and descriptions, Zmanim or the Torah  and haftarah Readings.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Notes

All daily notes are managed from this window accessed from Calendars and Readings. These notes may be printed in the calendars and will appear in the Personal Reminders list.

Enter/Edit Note for Date - Enter note text. You may use the <Enter> key but cannot use the <Tab> key. The amount of text is limited to 400 characters.

Note: The amount of text that can be printed in the calendars is limited by the space available in the day data area. Attempting to print 400 character notes would typically require a font size of 6 points for the day data. See Calendar Print Options.

Edit Note - Edit highlighted note.

Shortcut: Double-Click on the desired note for editing.

Delete Note - Delete highlighted note.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Contents

SHALOM !

Welcome to HEBREW CALENDAR !

Features (Standard Edition)

First Time Use

Information and Registration

Getting Around - The Main Menu

Location Panel

Standard Time / Daylight Time

Main Menu Panel

Setting Personal Preferences

Setting Your Location

City List

Personal Reminder

Using QuickDate

Calendars and Readings

Printing the Calendars

Setting Calendar Print Options

Print Preview

Notes

Readings

Observances and Holidays

Observances

Month Relationships

Anniversaries

Personal Anniversary List

Technical Support

License and Disclaimer

Years Covered

Hebrew Calendar Facts

Hebrew Years

Common Dates

Shabbat Times

Zmanim

Editing Readings, Holidays and Months Text

References

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Hebrew Calendar Facts

Hebrew Years

The modern Hebrew calendar was formally sanctified by Hillel II in the year 358 of the Common Era. The accuracy of the calendar, to a fraction of a second, is truly amazing in view of the science available at the time.

The Common calendar is solar-based:

 1 solar year = 365-1/4 days, approximately (Exactly 365 days, 5 hours, 55 minutes, 24.438 seconds)

Traditional Jewish law requires that months follow the cycle of the moon:

 1 lunar month = 29-1/2 days, approximately (Exactly 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3-1/3 seconds)

Furthermore, the months must correspond to the seasons so that festivals occur at the correct time, for example, Passover in the Spring and Sukkot in the Fall.

The problem is that a 12-month lunar year is 354 days and a 12-month solar year is 365 days! The solution is the Hebrew calendar, which brings the lunar and solar cycles into harmony in a grand 235-month cycle, the Mahzor.

Within this 235-month cycle there are 12 ordinary years of 12 months and seven leap years of 13 months. Specifically, the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years are leap years.

The finer details of the Hebrew calendar calculations are:

 Each month must start at the time of the new moon (Rosh Hodesh), the exact conjunction of the sun and moon. The first such occurrence, 1 Tishri 1 (the first of Tishri in the year 1) was on Sunday evening, about 15 minutes after 2300 (11 PM) Jerusalem time.

 Extra days may be added to Kislev and Heshvan, as required, to compensate for the lunar cycle not being full days.

 Most importantly, there are four rules for postponing Rosh Hashanah so that certain of the High Holidays do not conflict with the observance of Shabbat. These rules, which delay the start of the new year, shift Rosh Hashanah away from the true time of the new moon. The result is that Rosh Hashanah will occur only on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday and the length of any current year is actually determined by the start of the subsequent year!

It is possible to define fourteen types of years based on their length (354±1 or 384±1 days) and the day of the week on which Passover occurs. 354- or 384-day years are "regular," 353- or 383-day years are "defective" and 355- or 385-day years are "excessive."

These types are indicated in the Hebrew year information panel of Calendars and Readings. They are used to uniquely specify the readings which are appropriate for each Shabbat.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Technical Support

Contact the Calendar Maven:

 By mail:

Joseph Kohn

4333 Larchwood Circle, NW

Canton, OH 44718-2117

USA

 By E-mail:

Compuserve: 74651,116

Internet: joemkohn@aol.com

America Online: JoeMKohn

Provide a description of your system, what other programs you may have running, and the exact nature of the problem you are having.

Do not contact other representatives or distributors, for example, Davka Corp., PsL, Kivun Computers, Accent Software, Compuserve, America Online, etc.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


References

1. The Complete Book of Jewish Observance, Leo Trepp, Behrman House, Inc./Summit Books, New York, 1980.

 General Jewish knowledge

2. A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice, Isaac Klein, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York and Jerusalem, 1992.

 General Jewish knowledge

3. Tanakh - The Holy Scriptures, The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, New York, and Jerusalem, 1988.

 Jewish version of the Bible, e. g., the Torah

4. The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar, Arthur Spier, Philipp Feldheim Inc., Spring Valley, New York, Third Revised Edition, 1986.

 Principal reference for the calendar algorithm

 Defines Torah reading cycle

5. Jewish Chrononomy - The Calendar and Times-of-Day in Jewish Law, Leo Levi, Gur Institute for Advanced Jewish Scholarship, Brooklyn, New York, 1967.

 Extensive treatment of the halakhic times of day

 Includes sunrise/sunset tables

6. The Encyclopedia of Judaism & Dictionary of Jewish Biography, CD ROM, Davka Corp., Chicago, Illinois.

 General Jewish knowledge

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Editing Readings, Holidays and Months
Editing Readings, Holidays and Months Text

Changes to readings, holidays names and descriptions and month names may be made from Preferences.

The text for the readings and holiday descriptions are contained in the READINGS.DAT and HOLIDAYS.DAT files, respectively. HEBREW CALENDAR provides the means to edit the text in these files to suit your personal requirements.

READINGS

The most common need for editing the readings text might be to tailor the selections for Askenazi or Sephardi preferences. Also, you may want to delete the specific contents of each parsha and retain only the name. The first 54 readings correspond to the 54 parshiot. Other readings relate to holidays and special occasions.

You may edit the text for either the Torah or haftarah selections.

Some holidays will be blank since no specific selections are defined. You may enter any notations you wish.

Readings with name "Reserved" are not currently used by the program. Any text entered would be ignored.

HOLIDAYS

The holiday names may be edited as well as the holiday descriptions.

CAUTION! Editing these text files results in permanent changes. You may want to make make backup copies of HOLIDAY.DAT and READINGS.DAT. In addition, these files are supplied upcompressed, so that you may easily restore them from the original HEBREW CALENDAR files.

MONTHS

The names of the Hebrew months may be edited. There is also the means for restoring the original default spellings.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Main Menu Panel

Calendars and Readings - Principal window for date conversions and determining Torah and Haftarah readings using synchronized Common and Hebrew calendars. Daily notes may be entered which can be printed in the calendars and appear in the Personal Reminders list.

Observances and Holidays - Hebrew year-by-year listing of holidays and observances. Also provides access to descriptions of each occasion.

Month Relationships - Year-by-year (Common or Hebrew) listing of the first of each month. The first of each Hebrew month is observed as the New Month or New Moon, Rosh Hodesh. For Hebrew months that have 30 days, Rosh Hodesh is also observed on the thirtieth of the month.

Anniversaries - HEBREW CALENDAR provides the capability for tracking yahrzeit (date of death), birthday and general anniversaries. There is also a database for storing personal anniversaries which indicates the date of their next observance. The listing of observances may also be printed. The anniversaries can be printed in the calendars and will appear in the Personal Reminders list.

QuickDate - Provides two capabilities: rapid date entry and a compact window with the ability to stay on top of, or float, over all other windows. Special QuickDate features are accessed through Preferences.

Information and Registration - Information about registering and technical support.

Location Setup - In order to have accurate times of day for your location, the latitude, longitude and time zone offset must be entered using Location Setup.

 - Pops-up the Personal Reminders list.

 - Runs the Windows Cardfile application. The file CARDFILE.EXE must be in your Windows directory.

 - Runs the Windows Notepad (Windows 3.x)  or Wordpad (Windows 95) application. The file NOTEPAD.EXE or WORDPAD.EXE must be in your Windows directory.

For users of the Synagogue Edition...

Yahrzeit Manager - Synagogue Edition feature for overall management of yahrzeit records and member notification.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Location Panel

The name of your location is shown at the top of the Location panel. This may be set from the Location Setup window. This is very important if you will be using the many time-of-day features available in HEBREW CALENDAR.

Today Subpanel

This top subpanel provides information about the current date: time, day of the week, Common date and Hebrew date. Double-clicking on any of these panels will copy the dates to the Windows Clipboard for use in other applications.

The Sunrise/Sunset subpanel displays the time of sunrise, time of sunset, the Hour-of-Time (see below) and choice of Standard Time (ST) or Daylight Time (DT) (Standard Time + 1-hour). Use of Daylight Time would typically be used during the summer with extended daylight hours, e.g. Daylight Savings Time.

Time and date formats may be set in Preferences. Double-clicking the sunrise/sunset times will copy them to the Windows Clipboard.

The Hour-of-Time (sha'a zmanit) is shown in decimal minutes. Click to pop-up a list of the zmanim with the halakhic times for the current day. The Shabbat Ending time listed in the zmanim is the program default time which can be set in Preferences.

If there is an observance or holiday, a panel will appear indicating the event.

Tomorrow Subpanel

The Hebrew date is shown. If there is an observance or holiday, a panel will appear indicating the event.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Standard Time / Daylight Time

All windows in HEBREW CALENDAR which display time allow you to set either Standard Time or Daylight Time. Daylight Time is Standard Time + 1-hour and is generally used during extended daylight periods. This is equivalent to Daylight Savings Time in the United States.

Note: HEBREW CALENDAR does not model any Daylight Time rules. The user is therefore cautioned to determine when Daylight Time is in effect. Also note that is not possible to set the time preference for individual days of a month. This is especially important during transitional months, for example, April and October in the United States.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Years Covered

HEBREW CALENDAR provides date conversion for the following years:

 Common: 1600-2200

 Hebrew: 5360-5960

The conversion factor between years is 3760 referenced to January or 3761 referenced to Tishri.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Common Dates

Common dates are based on the classic Gregorian calendar devised in 1582. This was not universally adopted in 1582.

For example, the United States and United Kingdom adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Thus dates before 1752, in these countries, will be in error by several days, as reported by HEBREW CALENDAR.

Users interested in historical dates are cautioned to determine the relation of calendars used in particular countries to the Gregorian calendar.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Hebrew Years

Hebrew years have 12 months (354 days) in ordinary years and 13 months (384 days) in leap years. The extra month is Adar I, followed by Adar II.

There are 14 types of years, A through N, defined by the length of the year and the day of the week on which Rosh Hashanah occurs. Years short by 1-day from Regular are termed Defective, those longer by 1-day are termed Excessive.

Start of 	Start of

  Type	Rosh Hashanah	 Days in Year  	 Passover 	Example

    A 	Monday	353, Defective	Tuesday	5773

    B 	Shabbat	353, Defective	Sunday	5781

    C 	Tuesday	354, Regular	Thursday	5766

    D 	Thursday	354, Regular	Shabbat	5789

    E 	Monday	355, Excessive	Thursday	5780

    F 	Thursday	355, Excessive	Sunday	5785

    G 	Shabbat	355, Excessive	Tuesday	5794

    H 	Monday	383, Defective	Thursday	5793

    I 	Thursday	383, Defective	Sunday	5812

    J 	Shabbat	383, Defective	Tuesday	5784

    K 	Tuesday	384, Regular	Shabbat	5782

    L 	Monday	385, Excessive	Shabbat	5803

    M 	Thursday	385, Excessive	Tuesday	5771

    N 	Shabbat	385, Excessive	Thursday	5858

Sabbatical Year (Shemittah) - As proclaimed in Leviticus 25.1-7, 18-22, every seventh year is a "sabbath of the Lord" for resting the soil of the land of Israel. Every Hebrew year evenly divisible by seven is a sabbatical year, for example, the years 7, 5754 and 5761. [Ref. 6]

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Shabbat Times

HEBREW CALENDAR provides Friday candle lighting and Saturday ending times. Defaults may be set in Preferences from the Main Menu. These defaults will apply to all locations unless location-specific times in Location Setup from the Main Menu. The city database provided with HEBREW CALENDAR includes specific times for Jerusalem only.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Personal Reminders

 	Preferences

The Personal Reminders feature presents a pop-up window which lists any notes or anniversaries from the current date through the number of days set in the Preferences window.

Anniversaries are listed with the following notation:

Y. = Yahrzeit

B. = Birthday

A. = General Anniversary

If there are events in the list, the reminder list can be popped-up automatically when starting HEBREW CALENDAR by checking Reminders/Show at Start in Preferences.

Note: The reminder list will not show automatically if QuickDate / Show at Start is checked in Preferences.

The reminder list may be activated by clicking the [image] button when available.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Features (Standard Edition)

 600-year coverage:

Common	Hebrew

1600 - 2200	5360 - 5960

 Dual calendar displays, Common and Hebrew.

 Holidays and observances with descriptions.

 Shabbat and holiday Torah/Haftarah readings.

 Halakhic times-of-day (zmanim).

 User-definable location for correct sunrise and sunset.

 Convenient database with latitude and longitude of major cities.

 Shabbat candle lighting and ending times, user selectable and independently definable for each location.

 QuickDate feature for rapid date entry and mini-floating window that can stay on top of all other windows.

 Anniversaries: yahrzeits, birthdays and general (Hebrew or Common observance).

 Personal anniversary database showing dates of next observances.

 Daily notes.

 Omer count.

 Pop-up reminder list of notes and anniversaries.

 Customizable, TrueType-supported Common and Hebrew calendars.

 Choice of time and date formats, including Standard and Daylight Times.

 Choice of Israel or Diaspora preferences for holidays and readings.

 First-of-month relationships (Rosh Hodesh).

 Monthly zmanim lists.

 Print Preview.

 Simple point-and-click interface.

 Convenient Windows Help, help panels and help tips.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


First-Time Use and Registration

First-Time Use and Registration

When running HEBREW CALENDAR for the first time, you will start at the Main Menu. If you have not registered, click Information and Registration. Registration will allow you to be notified of any upgrades or updates that may become available.

After registering, you will want to customize HEBREW CALENDAR for your personal use. Use Location Setup to set the geographical coordinates for your city and Preferences to set various options.

General Program Information

HEBREW CALENDAR makes extensive use of the Windows point-and-click interface. This is supplemented, in most cases, by the ability to use the keyboard to select functions. Standard Windows conventions with respect to the <F1>, <Tab> and <Alt> keys are followed.

HEBREW CALENDAR has been designed to be used with little or no instruction. Help, in the form of context-sensitive messages, is displayed throughout the program. There are help panels at the bottom of most screens and help tips associated with most controls. Context is set by either moving the mouse around on the screen, or setting focus to a control using the <Tab> key. Pressing <F1> will bring up help for the current window.

Several buttons perform the same function regardless of which screen is being used:

Copy - Copies data to the Windows Clipboard.

Main Menu - Returns to the Main Menu screen.

Print - Prints data to the Windows-designated printer.

Close or Cancel - Terminates current operation and closes the active window.

Shalom (<Alt-S> or <Alt-X>) - Exits HEBREW CALENDAR.

Printer Setup - Make changes to printer settings or change printers through the standard Windows dialog.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


License and Disclaimer

HEBREW CALENDAR (Standard Edition) is licensed for the personal use of the original purchaser/user on two computers, for example, at work and at home.

HEBREW CALENDAR is a copyrighted program and may not be copied, reproduced, or duplicated except as specifically noted in the README.TXT file and/or the Information and Registration window. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of the biblical commandments and may be against Federal and state laws.

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of HEBREW CALENDAR. However, neither the Calendar Maven (Joseph Kohn), nor any distributor assumes any liability for errors, problems, or consequences due to its use.

The Calendar Maven reserves the right to make changes, corrections and improvements without notification or obligation.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Information and Registration

    License and Disclaimer

When running HEBREW CALENDAR for the first time, you will start at the Main Menu. If you have not registered, click Information and Registration. Registration will enable us to notify you of updates and upgrades, and assist you with technical support, if the need should arise.

If you are using a version of HEBREW CALENDAR that requires you to enter identification information, that may be entered in this window.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Zmanim

   	Month Relationships     Preferences

"Zmanim" is the Hebrew word for "times." HEBREW CALENDAR provides a list of principal times of day from before sunrise to after sunset as defined by halakhic principles and interpreted by various authorities.

Most times are defined in terms of a proportional hour, the "hour-of-time" or "sha'a zmanit." This proportional hour is a fraction of the actual time between sunrise and sunset.

Times before sunrise and after sunset are based on the declination angle of the sun below the horizon.

Elevation, height above sea level, affects most of these times. Higher elevations have earlier sunrises and later sunsets. If a high degree of accuracy is important to you, be sure to enter your elevation in Location Setup.

See the README.TXT file for definitions used in this version.

SELECTING TIMES FOR DAILY LISTS AND MONTHLY TABLES

Individual zmanit may be selected from Preferences from the Main Menu then clicking Zmanim List. Choose the times you want to include by clicking the check boxes. Times selected will appear in the daily lists and monthly tables. The monthly tables are printed from Month Relationships. Daily lists are printed from the Main Menu or Calendar and Readings window.

ACCURACY

HEBREW CALENDAR uses a mathematical algorithm to determine the times of sunrise and sunset based on the day of the Common (solar-based) year and latitude and longitude. It's accuracy is about 2 to 3 minutes on a global basis.

If sunrise and sunset times are slightly off, accuracy at a specific location may be improved by making adjustments to elevation, latitude or longitude on an experimental basis. There is no way to adjust the time of individual zmanit.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Observances

All observances begin at sunset of the preceding day.

The duration of Passover and Shavuot is shorter by one day in Israel than in the Diaspora. In addition, Simhat Torah is observed on Shemini Atzeret in Israel. Your observance preference may be set in Preferences.

Certain holidays and fast days are shifted so as not to conflict with the observance of shabbat.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Readings

Editing Readings, Holidays and Months Text

HEBREW CALENDAR provides a list of readings for shabbat and holidays. The titles of Shabbat portions are based on the respective haftarah selection.

Local customs for these readings may vary. For example, shabbat readings may follow a triennial cycle, rather than annual cycle, where one-third of the full portion is read in a given year and three years are required to read the entire Torah.

Because holiday durations differ in Israel, the shabbat torah reading dates are different in Israel than in the Diaspora. Your choice may be set in Preferences.

Changes to the Torah  and haftarah text may be made from Preferences.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Print Preview

HEBREW CALENDAR provides a Print Preview capability for complex printing tasks. This allows you to see what will be printed before actually sending data to the printer.

You may change the Zoom factor to look at fine details of the printed page. If there are multiple pages, the Page scroll bar will allow you to look at each page individually. You may also directly Print from this window without having to re-generate the printable data.

Use Copy to copy to the Windows clipboard. The data can then be inserted into other documents as a graphic. For example, use this technique to insert the calendars into newsletters.

HEBREW CALENDAR. © 1990-95, Joseph M. Kohn. All rights reserved.


Glossary

A

anniversaries

C

Calendar Maven

Clipboard

Coordinated Universal Time

D

Daylight Time

defective

E

excessive

G

GR'O

Greenwich Mean Time

Greenwich meridian

H

halakhic

hebcal.cfg

Hebrew month

Hebrew months

Hebrew year

help tips

holidays.dat

hour-of-time

J

Joseph M. Kohn

L

leap years

M

M'A

mahzor

maven

meters

mincha

N

notes

O

observer

Omer

ordinary years

P

personal.dat

Q

QuickDate

R

readings.dat

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hodesh

S

sabbatical year

sha'a zmanit

shabbat

Shalom

shemittah

Standard Time

T

torah

Y

yahrzeit

yahrzeits

Z

zmanim


anniversaries

Birthdays, yahrzeits, or general anniversaries entered from the Anniversaries window.


Calendar Maven

The "calendar expert" and provider of technical support: Joseph M. Kohn


Clipboard

The Clipboard is a standard Windows feature which provides a temporary storage place to facilitate transferring information. See your Windows manual for further information.


Coordinated Universal Time

See: Greenwich meridian


Daylight Time

Standard Time + 1-hour. Typically used during periods of extended daylight. Equivalent to Daylight Savings Time in the United States.


defective

Used to describe Hebrew years are that are short by 1-day, e. g., 353 or 383 days.


excessive

Used to describe Hebrew years are longer by 1-day, e. g., 355 or 385 days.


GR'O

Vilna Gaon, a halakhic scholar.


Greenwich Mean Time

See: Greenwich meridian


Greenwich meridian

The universal time reference located in Greenwich, England corresponding to a longitude of 0 degrees.


halakhic

Pertaining to the general body of Jewish religious laws and rules.


hebcal.cfg

The HEBREW CALENDAR configuration file, created the first time the program is run.


Hebrew month

Nominally 29 days, 12 hours, 793 parts. 1 part = 3 1/3 seconds.


Hebrew months

Tishri, Heshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, Adar I*, Adar/Adar II*, Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, and Elul. (* Leap years). These names are of Babylonian origin.


Hebrew year

Nominally, 12 months (354 days) in ordinary years and 13 months (384 days) in leap years. The extra month is Adar I, followed by Adar II. Additionally the year may be defective (shorter by one day) or excessive (longer by one day).


help tips

Yellow, boxed help messages associated with control pointed to by the mouse.


holidays.dat

The file containing the holiday descriptions.


hour-of-time

A fraction of the daylight period between sunrise and sunset. The Hebrew term is "sha'a zmanit." This proportional hour is  used to determine daily prayer intervals. See the README.TXT file for the definition used in this version.


Joseph M. Kohn

The Calendar Maven

4333 Larchwood Circle, NW

Canton, OH 44718-2117

USA

 Internet: joemkohn@aol.com

 America Online: JoeMKohn

 Compuserve: 74651,116

 http://users.aol.com/calmaven/calmaven.htm


leap years

Hebrew years with 13 months.


M'A

Magen Avraham, a halakhic scholar.


mahzor

The 19 year lunar/solar cycle of 235 months, 7 leap years and 12 ordinary years.


maven

Yiddish word meaning "expert."


meters

1-meter is equal to 3.28 feet.


mincha

The afternoon prayer service. Mincha K'tana in the "small" or late mincha. Mincha Gedola is the "great" or early mincha. The last half of Mincha K'tana is Plag HaMincha.


notes

Daily reminders entered from the Calendars and Readings window.


observer

A synagogue member observing a yahrzeit.


Omer

A count of the number of days from the second day of Passover to Shavuot.


ordinary years

Hebrew years with 12 months. Common years with 365 days.


personal.dat

The file containing the list of personal anniversaries.


QuickDate

A feature of HEBREW CALENDAR that provides for quick date conversion as well as a mini-floating window.


readings.dat

The file containing the definitions of all shabbat and holiday Torah/haftarah readings.


Rosh Hashanah

The New Year holiday.


Rosh Hodesh

The New Moon or New Month.


sabbatical year

A Hebrew year evenly divisible by 7. For example, the year 7 and 5754.


sha'a zmanit

See: hour-of-time


shabbat

The sabbath, Saturday. Starts with candle lighting Friday night (typically 18 minutes before sunset) and ends Saturday night (typically 45 minutes after sunset). The overall preference for these times may be set in Preferences or for individual locations in Location Setup.


Shalom

The Hebrew word for "hello," "goodbye," or "peace."


shemittah

Hebrew word for the sabbatical year.


Standard Time

Time in effect during the winter and without adjustment for extended daylight periods such as Daylight Savings Time in the United States.


torah

The first five books of the bible. Also known as the Pentateuch.


yahrzeit

Anniversary of a death. Generally observed on the Hebrew date, however, HEBREW CALENDAR provides the option of using either Common or Hebrew dates for observance.


yahrzeits

Annual observance of a death. Generally on the Hebrew date, however, HEBREW CALENDAR provides the option of choosing either Common or Hebrew dates.


zmanim

The Hebrew word for "times." HEBREW CALENDAR provides a zmanim list based on halakhic principles. See the README.TXT file for the definitions used in this version.