Rosh Chodesh 2026-2027: Every New Month Date for 5787

Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, the first new month of the year 5787, falls on Sunday and Monday, October 11 and 12, 2026. It begins at sundown on Saturday, the same evening Shabbat Bereshit ends. After a month full of holidays, Cheshvan is the first quiet month of the year, so this is a good week to start noticing the calendar's monthly rhythm.

Below are all twelve Rosh Chodesh dates for 5787, from Cheshvan 2026 through Elul 2027, plus the next Cheshvan in fall 2027. After the table we cover what Rosh Chodesh is, why some months get two days, and what actually changes in shul and at home. Bayit is our app and this is its journal. It comes up once, near the end.

What Rosh Chodesh is

Rosh Chodesh means "head of the month." The Hebrew calendar follows the moon, and each month starts around the new moon. The first commandment the Torah gives the Jewish people as a nation is about exactly this: ״הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים״, "This month shall be for you the head of the months" (Exodus 12:2). Rashi opens his whole commentary on Genesis by asking why the Torah didn't simply begin with that verse.

In Temple times the court in Jerusalem declared the new month after witnesses came to say they had seen the new crescent. Since the fourth century the calendar has been calculated in advance, a system traditionally credited to Hillel II. That is why the dates above can be printed a year ahead, and why they line up with the Jewish holidays calendar for 2026 and 2027.

Why some months get two days

The moon takes about twenty-nine and a half days to go through its phases, so Hebrew months are either 29 or 30 days long. When the month that is ending has 30 days, its last day counts as the first day of Rosh Chodesh, and the 1st of the new month is the second day. When the old month has only 29 days, Rosh Chodesh is a single day, the 1st.

5787 is a leap year with 13 months and 385 days, the longest a Jewish year can be. Cheshvan and Kislev are the two months whose length changes from year to year, and this year both have 30 days. That is why Kislev and Tevet each get a two-day Rosh Chodesh.

Tishrei never has a Rosh Chodesh. Its first day is Rosh Hashanah, and the new year takes over the day. In 5788 that is Saturday and Sunday, October 2 and 3, 2027.

Adar I and Adar II

The extra month in a leap year is Adar, so 5787 has two of them. Rosh Chodesh Adar I is February 7 and 8, 2027, and Rosh Chodesh Adar II is March 9 and 10. Purim moves to Adar II and lands on Tuesday, March 23, 2027, starting at sundown on March 22.

The 14th of Adar I, Sunday, February 21, is Purim Katan, the "little Purim." There is no megillah reading and no costume party. Tachanun is skipped in prayer, and some people make the day's meals a little nicer.

What changes on Rosh Chodesh

Rosh Chodesh is a minor holiday. Work, driving, and phones are all normal, unlike Shabbat or Yom Tov. Most of the changes are in prayer:

• Ya'aleh V'yavo, a short paragraph asking to be remembered on this day, is added to the Amidah and to Birkat Hamazon, the blessing after a meal with bread. If the Amidah is new to you, our guide to the Amidah shows how the prayer is built.
• Half Hallel, Psalms 113 to 118 with two short passages left out, is said after the morning Amidah.
• The Torah is taken out on weekdays for Numbers 28:1-15, the new-month offering in the Temple, with four people called up.
• Musaf, the additional service, is added.
• Tachanun, the daily prayer of supplication, is skipped.

A few dates this year work a little differently. Rosh Chodesh Sh'vat (January 9, 2027) and the second day of Rosh Chodesh Iyyar (May 8, 2027) fall on Shabbat. On those days a second Torah scroll is used for Numbers 28:9-15, and the haftarah is Isaiah 66. When Shabbat is the day before Rosh Chodesh, as on October 10 and February 6 and June 5, the haftarah is the story of David and Jonathan from I Samuel 20, which opens with "Tomorrow is the new moon." The Torah portion schedule for 5787 lists each of those Shabbatot.

Rosh Chodesh Tevet, December 10 and 11, 2026, falls on the sixth and seventh days of Chanukah. Full Hallel is said, as on every day of Chanukah, and the Torah reading pairs Numbers 28 with the Chanukah reading. Our Chanukah 2026 guide has the candle dates for those nights.

Shabbat Mevarchim, the announcement

On the Shabbat before each Rosh Chodesh, after the Torah reading, most synagogues say a prayer for the coming month called Birkat HaChodesh and announce which day it falls on. That Shabbat is called Shabbat Mevarchim. Many congregations also announce the molad, the calculated moment of the new moon, given in hours, minutes, and chalakim. A chelek is one eighteenth of a minute, which is why the molad times in the table look so oddly precise.

The "Announced" column above lists those Shabbatot. There is no announcement before Tishrei, so you won't hear one on September 25, 2027.

Customs at home

Very little is required at home, which makes Rosh Chodesh an easy place to start. Some customs people keep:

• A nicer meal. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 419) says it is a mitzvah to add something to your meal on Rosh Chodesh. Many people just add one extra dish.
• A day for women. There is an old custom that women hold back from some kinds of work on Rosh Chodesh. A midrash in Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer connects it to the women who refused to hand over their jewelry for the golden calf. Many Rosh Chodesh learning groups for women grew out of this.
• No fasting. Rosh Chodesh is treated as a happy day.
• Kiddush Levana. A few days into the month, on a clear night, people step outside and say a blessing over the moon. It has its own window, which closes around the middle of the month.

Using the new month as a check-in

Twelve or thirteen times a year, the calendar hands you a fresh start that comes with no cooking and no big holiday prep. If you have been meaning to start a small daily practice, a few verses of the parsha or a short prayer in the morning, the new month is a better start date than next January. It is also a gentle way to restart after a few weeks off.

Here is a simple way to use it:

1. When you hear the month announced on Shabbat, or see it in the table above, pick one small thing to do every day of that month.
2. On Rosh Chodesh itself, add one piece of the day. Psalm 117 from Hallel is two verses long. If you already bentch after meals, don't skip Ya'aleh V'yavo.
3. At the end of the month, look at the next date in the table and decide whether to keep going, change it, or make it a little bigger.

For ideas on what that daily piece could be, see how to start daily Torah study or how to start davening. Elul, the month that starts on September 2, 2027, has its own traditions of preparation, which we wrote about in what Elul is.

Bayit, our iPhone app, is built for that kind of small daily practice. Its Daily Plan gives you a piece of the week's parsha and a short tefilah in about five minutes, along with your local candle-lighting times. It is a paid subscription, and it works fine next to a siddur, a chumash, or Sefaria.

Want Cheshvan to be the month you start? Try Bayit's Daily Plan on the App Store.