How we calculate

Sunset and nightfall

For every city we compute the sun’s position with the NOAA solar formulas (the method behind the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s solar calculator). Sunset is when the top of the sun touches a flat horizon, with standard refraction; elevation is not used, as in most published tables. Times are shown in the city’s own time zone, with daylight saving.

Candle lighting

18 minutes before sunset, the most common custom. In Israel 20 minutes; Jerusalem 40, Haifa and Zikhron Ya’akov 30. Some communities use other customs (Chicago, for example, often 20); you can choose your custom on any city page and it stays saved on your device.

Havdalah

By default when the sun is 8.5° below the horizon (three small stars). You can switch to a fixed 42, 50 or 72 minutes after sunset.

Hebrew calendar, holidays and Torah portions

The Hebrew calendar is computed from the fixed calendar rules (the molad, the 19-year cycle and the postponement rules). Holidays and the weekly Torah portion follow the standard rules for Israel and for outside Israel.

Checked against

Our times are compared with Hebcal.com and Chabad.org for 13 cities over a year: with the same settings they agree within one minute. Holidays were compared with Hebcal for 2024–2032 and Torah portions for 2000–2050, with no differences.

Data

City names and coordinates: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).