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Yahrzeit/Birthdays observed in Adar II

Last week I fixed a bug in yahrzeit calculations in the hebcal website.
Calendrical Calculations

According to Calendrical Calculations by Edward M. Reingold and Nachum Dershowitz, the yarhzeit of someone who passed away in Adar of an ordinary year or Adar II of a leap year is also always in the last month of the year, be that Adar or Adar II.

The hebcal.com website previously displayed those anniversaries as occurring in Adar I. Hebcal for Unix 3.3beta10 also contains this fix.

Small changes to Torah Readings pages

We’ve added next and previous links to the top of the individual Torah Readings pages. See Parashat Beshalach (this week’s parashah) as an example. You’ll see a link << Bo on the left and Yitro >> on the right.

These links have always been available at the bottom of the parashah pages, but now they’re also visible at the top for people who don’t like to scroll.

Also, the date of the reading for the current year highlighted to easily see what to year we’re in if you’re using the triennial cycle.

Upcoming improvements to hebcal.com

Sometime before Pesach, I hope to change the Hebcal Torah Readings pages to correctly show special haftara/maftir when the Parashat ha-Shavua corresponds with a special day like Rosh Chodesh or Shabbat Shekalim.

Currently we’re displaying this message:

NOTE: This site does not yet indicate special maftir or haftarah when they occur. Always check a luach or consult with your rabbi to determine if this Shabbat has a special maftir and/or a special haftarah.

But of course it would be much better if the website actually had the proper data. This would make hebcal.com one step closer to being a full luach.

There are a bunch of other feature requests and bugs to fix this year, too.