Calculate your dates: enter the date of burial, and the calculator gives you all the Hebrew and civil dates below. Open the Mourning Dates Calculator
Everything starts from the burial
Every count begins on the day of burial. The day of burial is day one. Keep the Hebrew date of the burial in front of you.
To convert between Hebrew and civil dates, use the Hebcal converter.
Example. A burial takes place on Tuesday, 9 Cheshvan 5788 (November 9, 2027). All the dates below follow from that date.
Shiva
Seven days, counting the day of burial as day one. Shiva ends on the morning of the seventh day, after Shacharit. The Haft is held the night before.
In the example, Shiva begins Tuesday, 9 Cheshvan, and ends Monday morning, 15 Cheshvan (November 15, 2027). The Haft is Sunday night, November 14.
A holiday that falls during Shiva or Sheloshim can end or shorten the count. Each holiday works differently. See Mourning and Festivities.
Sheloshim
Thirty days, counting the day of burial as day one. The thirtieth day ends the Sheloshim. Relatives say kaddish through the Sheloshim, and may continue during the year when they are at a minyan.
In the example, Sheloshim ends on 8 Kislev (Wednesday, December 8, 2027).
Note: when the burial month has 29 days, Sheloshim ends on the same date number in the next month. When the burial month has 30 days, it ends one number earlier, as in the example (9 Cheshvan to 8 Kislev).
The 11 Months (Sons’ Kaddish)
The sons say kaddish for eleven months from the burial. The last kaddish is said at Mincha of that day.
In the example, eleven months from 9 Cheshvan 5788 is 9 Tishri 5789 (Friday, September 29, 2028).
In the Mashadi tradition, the children then stop for about three weeks and start again one week before the sal. In the example, they stop from 10 Tishri to 1 Cheshvan, start again on 2 Cheshvan (from Arvit on Saturday night, October 21, 2028), and continue until the sal itself, 9 Cheshvan (Sunday, October 29, 2028), with the last kaddish at Mincha. The pause keeps the kaddish from looking like a full twelve months, while still honoring the days before the sal.
The Year (Sal)
The sal is the yearly anniversary. It is kept every year on the Hebrew date of the burial, and begins the evening before.
In the example, the sal is 9 Cheshvan every year: 9 Cheshvan 5789 (Sunday, October 29, 2028) the first year, 9 Cheshvan 5790 (Thursday, October 18, 2029) the second year, and so on.
Leap Years
A Jewish leap year has two months of Adar, Adar I and Adar II. This matters in two ways.
First, when the 11 months pass through a leap year, both months of Adar are counted. The 11 months then end two months before the sal, not one, and the pause before the last week is longer.
Second, for a sal in Adar: a date in Adar I stays in Adar I, a date in Adar II stays in Adar II, and a date in a regular Adar is kept in Adar II of a leap year.
These cases are easy to get wrong. Use the calculator or the converter, and when in doubt, ask before fixing the date.
Visiting the Cemetery
It is customary to visit at the end of Shiva, at Sheloshim, at the 11 months, and every year on the sal. It is also customary to visit every year on Tisha Be’ab and before Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur. Apart from these days, it is best not to visit regularly.
We do not visit on Shabbat, Yom Tob, Chol Hamoed or Rosh Chodesh. If the end of Shiva falls on one of these days, the mourners visit afterward. If Sheloshim or the sal falls on one of these days, they visit before or after.
