Jewish Holidays 2026-2027: Every Major Date, and What Each Day Means

Every Jewish holiday begins at sundown - the Jewish day runs evening to evening, as in the Torah's refrain, ״וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר״ - "and it was evening, and it was morning" (Bereishis 1:5). So when a calendar says a holiday falls on a certain date, the candles are lit the evening before.

Here is the whole Jewish year 5787 - fall 2026 through summer 2027 - every major holiday with its dates (Diaspora observance) and a plain explanation of what the day actually is. Dates are per Hebcal; in Israel, some holidays run a day shorter, noted below.

Rosh Hashanah - September 12-13, 2026

Begins at sundown Friday, September 11, 2026; observed Saturday and Sunday, September 12-13. The Jewish new year - the anniversary of creation, the day of the shofar's cry, the opening of the Books. Two days everywhere, Israel included. The month before it, Elul, is the quiet on-ramp - the season of return begins well before the first candle.

Yom Kippur - September 21, 2026

Begins at sundown Sunday, September 20, 2026; observed Monday, September 21. The Day of Atonement - a full twenty-five-hour fast, white garments, five prayer services ending with Ne'ilah as the gates close. The Torah calls it שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן - a Shabbos of Shabbosos (Vayikra 16:31) - the one day the whole calendar leans on.

Sukkot - September 26 to October 2, 2026

Begins at sundown Friday, September 25, 2026. The first two days (September 26-27) are Yom Tov; the middle days (chol hamoed) run through October 2, ending with Hoshana Rabbah. Seven days of eating - and, for many, sleeping - in the sukkah, a temporary hut under the stars, with the four species in hand. The festival of trusting that shelter comes from Above. In Israel, only the first day is full Yom Tov.

Shmini Atzeret & Simchat Torah - October 3-4, 2026

Begins at sundown Friday, October 2, 2026. Shmini Atzeret (October 3) is the quiet "eighth day of holding on," when the prayer for rain begins; Simchat Torah (October 4) is the loud one - the annual completion of the Torah-reading cycle, when the last verses of Devarim and the first of Bereishis are read back to back and the scrolls are danced around the bimah. In Israel the two are one day.

Chanukah - December 5-12, 2026

First candle on the evening of Friday, December 4, 2026; eight days through December 12. The festival of lights - the Maccabees' rededication of the Beit Hamikdash and the oil that outlasted itself. Not a "Sabbath-like" holiday: work continues, school continues, and each night one more flame goes up in the window.

Purim - March 23, 2027

Begins at sundown Monday, March 22, 2027; observed Tuesday, March 23. The story of Esther read aloud twice, noise for Haman, gifts of food to friends, gifts to the poor, and a festive meal. The one book of Tanakh where God's name never appears - and the holiday about seeing the hand behind the coincidences.

Pesach (Passover) - April 22-29, 2027

Begins with the first Seder at sundown Wednesday, April 21, 2027. The first two days (April 22-23) and last two days (April 28-29) are Yom Tov, with chol hamoed between; in Israel, seven days with one Seder. The exodus from Egypt retold at the Seder table, a week of matzah and no chametz - the founding story of the Jewish people, told as the Haggadah insists, in first person: "In every generation a person must see themselves as if they left Egypt."

Shavuot - June 11-12, 2027

Begins at sundown Thursday, June 10, 2027; observed June 11-12 (one day in Israel). The giving of the Torah at Sinai, seven weeks counted day by day from Pesach. The customs: all-night learning (Tikkun Leil Shavuot), the Book of Rus, and dairy meals. If Pesach made a free people, Shavuot gave the freedom its content.

Tisha B'Av - August 12, 2027

Begins at sundown Wednesday, August 11, 2027; observed Thursday, August 12. The saddest day of the year - a full fast mourning the destruction of both Temples and the long list of catastrophes that gathered on this date. Eicha (Lamentations) is read by candlelight on the floor. Three weeks of lessening precede it; comfort follows it, seven weeks of consolation leading back to Rosh Hashanah.

Reading the rhythm

Seen whole, the year has a shape: return and renewal in the fall, light in the deepest winter, liberation in the spring, revelation in early summer, grief in late summer - and then return again. The calendar is a curriculum. Each holiday assumes you lived the ones before it.

Two practical notes: every date above starts at sundown the evening prior, and Yom Tov days (unlike Chanukah and Purim) carry Shabbos-like rest from work. For exact candle-lighting times in your city, any Jewish calendar tool - or Bayit itself - will localize them.

Bayit keeps the week's times - candle lighting, Havdalah, and the day's learning - in one quiet place, so the calendar carries you rather than surprises you.