What Are Future Dates For The Passover (Pesach) Festival ?

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Pesach / Passover in 2017 will commence either just after sunset or just after nightfall (depending on the authoritative rabbinical opinion one follows; nightfall is defined in Jewish law as being "the end of sunset", and occurs anytime from 20 minutes to 1 hour after sunset, depending on one's geographic latitude and where one is located in the world) on Monday, April 10th, 2017. For some Reform Jews and Reconstructionist Jews, most Conservative Jews, and Jews living outside Israel, Passover will last for eight days, concluding either at sunset or at nightfall (depending on the authoritative rabbinical opinion one follows) on Tuesday, April 18th, 2017, or in the Hebrew/Jewish calendar, from 15 Nissan 5777 to 22 Nissan 5777. For Jews who celebrate Pesach / Passover for 7 days (most Reform Jews and Reconstructionist Jews, some Conservative Jews, and Jews living in Israel), Pesach / Passover in 2017 will commence either just after sunset or just after nightfall on Monday, April 10th, 2017, concluding either at sunset or at nightfall on Monday, April 17th, 2017, or in the Hebrew/Jewish calendar, from 15 Nissan 5777 to 21 Nissan 5777.

In the Hebrew/Jewish calendar, Passover always begins on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan for those who celebrate Passover for 7 days or for 8 days and always ends on the 21st day of Nissan for those who celebrate Passover for 7 days, and always ends on the 22nd day of Nissan for those who celebrate Passover for 8 days. However, in the Gregorian or Christian calendar which comprises the January to December months of the year, Passover begins and ends on different days each year. Why? (I had to ask) Well, I asked, so here comes the answer: the Hebrew/Jewish calendar is primarily a lunar calendar, meaning the months are determined by the new moon that occurs when the first sliver of the moon appears following the complete darkness of the moon, and the Gregorian/Christian calendar is a solar calendar based upon the Earth's rotation around the sun. Since there are 12.4 lunar months in every solar year, this means that a 12-month lunar calendar will lose about 11 days off the solar calendar every year. Since the Passover date is a fixed date in the Hebrew/Jewish calendar then this means that the Passover date would occur earlier and earlier in the Springtime in the solar year until it would occur in the Wintertime, then in Autumn, then in Summer, and then back to Spring, and so on. To make up for this 'drift' in the Passover date through the solar months of the solar year, an extra month was periodically added to the Hebrew/Jewish calendar so that the Passover date would drift back about 11 days each year for about two or three years, then jump forward by about a month's worth of days (29 or 30 days). To help solve this problem, Rabbi Hillel II in 358 or 359 C.E. used astronomical and mathematical calculations to align the lunar year with the solar year over a 19-year cycle. To achieve this, Hillel II standardized the length of each of the 12 lunar months, making them either 29 or 30 days so that the length of the 12 lunar months could be aligned with the length of each of the 12 solar months. Additionally, over this 19-year cycle, a second month of "Adar" called "Adar II" was and is added in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of the cycle, meaning in those years the month of Adar is replaced with the months of Adar I and Adar II. The leap year for Adar is 30 days and in non-leap years, Adar has 29 days. Under Hillel II's lunisolar Hebrew/Jewish calendar, the months are determined according to the new moon and the years are determined according to the sun. This means that the Passover date will change only slightly from year to year in the Gregorian/Christian or solar calendar, with the second month of Adar being periodically added to keep the Passover date in the Springtime. It is important to keep Passover in the Springtime because this is when the first Passover occurred and because Passover must be celebrated in the specific agricultural season of Springtime, which depends on the solar year and necessitates the Passover date adjustment. For a further explanation and to see examples of the Hebrew/Jewish calendar months and years in tables, check out the Jewish Calendar Page In Our Passover / Pesach Website.

What Was / Were The Date / Dates Of Pesach / Passover In 2016?

Pesach / Passover in 2016 commenced either just after sunset or just after nightfall (depending on the authoritative rabbinical opinion one follows; nightfall is defined in Jewish law as being "the end of sunset", and occurs anytime from 20 minutes to 1 hour after sunset, depending on one's geographic latitude and where one is located in the world) on Friday, April 22, 2016. For Jews who celebrate Passover or Pesach for eight days (some Reform Jews and Reconstructionist Jews, most Conservative Jews, and Jews living outside Israel), Passover in 2016 concluded either at sunset or at nightfall on Saturday, April 30, 2016, or in the Hebrew/Jewish calendar, from 15 Nissan 5776 to 22 Nissan 5776.

For Jews who celebrate Passover or Pesach for seven days (most Reform Jews and Reconstructionist Jews, some Conservative Jews, and Jews living in Israel), Passover/ Pesach commenced either just after sunset or just after nightfall on Friday, April 22, 2016, and concluded either at sunset or at nightfall on Friday, April 29, 2016, or in the Hebrew/Jewish calendar, from 15 Nissan 5776 to 21 Nissan 5776.

Why Is Pesach / Passover Celebrated In The Hebrew Month Of Nissan?

In the Pesach / Passover story, Exodus 12:2 states the words of G-d to Moses: "This month shall be the head month to you. It shall be the first month of the year." Therefore, it was based on these words that the Passover / Pesach celebration was to be held in the first month of the Hebrew year. This month was named Nissan by the biblical Ezra and Nehemiah after they and other Hebrews returned from exile in Babylonia to Jerusalem following the Persian conquest of Babylonia in 539 B.C.E. (alternate date claims: 538 B.C.E., 537 B.C.E., and 536 B.C.E.). In fact, Ezra and Nehemiah took all the names of the Hebrew months from the names of the Babylonian months.

Although the Jewish New Year is held in the seventh month of the Jewish/Hebrew calendar (the month of Tishri), the Jewish/Hebrew calendar actually starts with the month of Nissan which is in either March or April in the Gregorian or Christian calendar. The reason for this is that different events in Jewish history mark the dates for different celebrations in the Jewish/Hebrew calendar. This is equivalent to saying the Christian New Year is January 1st, the school year starts in September, and the fiscal year for a company is whatever dates are set for that company, and so on. Another reason is that according to the Hebrew Bible, there were two calendars: a civil Jewish/Hebrew calendar from Genesis 1:1 to Exodus 12:1, and a religious Jewish/Hebrew calendar from Exodus 12:2 onward. The civil Jewish/Hebrew calendar began with the month of Tishri (occurring in either September or October in the Gregorian civil calendar) which was the month of Creation (Genesis 1:1), hence the Jewish New Year began in the month of Tishri, and still does. However, in Exodus 12:2, G-d announced that the month when Passover occurred was to be the "head month", or first month of the Jewish/Hebrew year. This month was the month of Nissan. Therefore, this resulted in the Jewish people having a celebration in the first month of both the civil and religious calendars: the Jewish New Year according to the civil Jewish/Hebrew calendar, and the Passover festival according to the religious Jewish/Hebrew calendar.

Why Does Pesach / Passover Start On The 15th Of Nissan And Last Until The 22nd Of Nissan?

OK, this one's not too difficult. Exodus 12:18 in the Passover story again states the words of G-d to Moses: "In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening". Since the Jewish day begins at sundown and ends at sundown, this "commandment" or "mitzvah" from G-d is interpreted to mean that the 14th day "at evening" means "after sundown" and hence the start of the 15th day of Nissan. Similarly, the twenty-first day "at evening" also is interpreted as "after sundown" and hence, the 22nd day of Nissan.

What Are The Future Dates Of Passover / Pesach ?

The following is a list of the future dates of Passover / Pesach. The first column lists the Gregorian or civil year and the Hebrew year, the second column lists the Gregorian or civil day on which THE FIRST FULL DAY OF PASSOVER / PESACH occurs in the Gregorian or civil calendar, and the third column lists the Gregorian or civil day on which Pesach / Passover occurs in the Gregorian or civil calendar ACCORDING TO THE HEBREW/JEWISH CALENDAR. Please note that since the Jewish day goes from sundown to sundown, Pesach / Passover actually begins at sundown on the evening PRIOR to the first full day of Pesach / Passover in the Gregorian or civil calendar. This explains why the Gregorian or civil dates in the third column are one day earlier than the Gregorian or civil dates in the second column, for the beginning of Pesach / Passover. Also, since Passover / Pesach is celebrated for eight days in the Diaspora - meaning all Jews outside Israel except for most Reform Jews and some Conservative Jews - and for seven days for Jews in Israel and for most of the Reform Jewish stream and for some in the Conservative Jewish stream, the first set of dates in the second and third columns indicated by (1) apply to Jews who celebrate Passover / Pesach for 7 days and the second set of dates in the second and third columns indicated by (2) apply to Jews who celebrate Passover / Pesach for 8 days.

In other words:

(1) = Jews who celebrate Passover / Pesach for 7 days.

(2) = Jews who celebrate Passover / Pesach for 8 days.

Footnote regarding the dates on this Passover Dates / Pesach Dates web page: all dates discussed on this website are based on the modern Gregorian calendar, however, these dates are but one secular scholarly deduction; there are many other secular scholarly deductions as well as traditional Jewish chronological dates in addition to modern Hebrew/Jewish calendar dates regarding the timeline of events in Jewish history. To see a table of some important events in Jewish history discussed on this website and their various dates deduced from traditional Jewish sources, the modern Hebrew/Jewish calendar, and secular historical timelines, check out our Jewish History Timeline web page.

        

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