Shabbat times: candle lighting and Havdalah

Shabbat begins on Friday evening at sunset and ends on Saturday night when three stars can be seen. Candles are lit a few minutes before sunset; how many is a matter of custom: usually 18 minutes, 40 in Jerusalem. Here both times are calculated for your city, for the coming Shabbat and the holidays of the next months.

Places in Israel follow the Israeli calendar, all others the diaspora calendar.

How it is calculated

Sunset means that the upper edge of the Sun disappears below a level horizon, with the usual refraction. By the common reckoning night begins when the Sun is 8.5 degrees below the horizon; then three small stars are visible. Other communities wait a fixed time, 42 or 50 minutes, or 72 after Rabbeinu Tam. On the second evening of a holiday the candles are lit only after nightfall, from an existing flame. The weekly portions in Israel and the diaspora sometimes follow different schedules; the schedule of the chosen place applies.

More: the Hebrew calendar with all holidays and your Hebrew birthday · the mazalot, the Hebrew zodiac · the weekly Torah portion

Calendar, portions and holidays are our own calculation, compared with Hebcal over 39 years without a difference; the times with Hebcal for eleven cities on four continents, to the minute. Places: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).