Skip to main content

Category Archives: Yahrzeits and Anniversaries

Yahrzeit calendar search

Posted on by

Hebcal’s Yahrzeit + Anniversary calendar lets you create a personal list of Yahrzeit (memorial) and Yizkor dates, Hebrew Birthdays and Anniversaries for 20+ years. Once your personal list has been created, you can subscribe to free annual email reminders & calendar downloads to Apple, Google, Outlook, and more.

To keep things simple, Hebcal does not require any user registration or login. After creating your calendar, you may optionally sign up to receive annual reminder emails (sent one week before and one day before each anniversary).

If you have signed up for annual email reminders and would like to view or make changes to an existing calendar, the easiest way to find your calendar is by searching for an existing Yahrzeit + Anniversary Calendar by email address. If your email address is found, a confirmation email message will be sent to your email address containing personal calendar link(s). Click the link(s) within that message to view your personal calendars.

Yizkor Memorial Prayer

Posted on by

Yizkor (Hebrew: יִזְכּוֹר) is an Ashkenazi Jewish memorial prayer service for the dead. Yizkor is recited in synagogue as part of the service during four holidays each year:

  1. Yom Kippur
  2. Shmini Atzeret
  3. The final day of Passover (8th day Pesach in Diaspora, 7th day Pesach in Israel)
  4. Shavuot (2nd day Shavuot in Diaspora)

Select the “Include Yizkor dates” option when you create your personal Hebcal Yahrzeit + Anniversary calendar to be reminded of these dates.

Read more about Yikzor from My Jewish Learning, Chabad, and Wikipedia.

Yahrzeit refers to the anniversary, according to the Hebrew calendar, of the day of death of a loved one.

Delete a Yahrzeit / personal anniversary calendar

Posted on by

To delete a Yahrzeit + Anniversary calendar from Hebcal’s servers, you can edit an existing calendar and remove all of the names.

1. First, navigate to https://www.hebcal.com/yahrzeit

2. Next, click the existing calendar link under the “View or edit an existing personal calendar” section of the page

3. For each name on the list, click the red Delete button with the trash-can icon

Screenshot of how to delete names from Hebcal yahrzeit page

4. To save your changes, click the Create Calendar button

Yahrzeit + Anniversary calendar annual email reminders

Posted on by

Follow these instructions to create a personal yahrzeit, Hebrew birthday, or Hebrew anniversary calendar and then receive annual email reminders.

1. Open a web browser on your computer and navigate to https://www.hebcal.com/yahrzeit 

2. Fill out the form with names and dates click the Create Calendar button

3. Click the Email reminders button

4. In the dialog box that pops up, enter your email address and click the Subscribe button

5. A confirmation message has been sent to your email address.

6. Open your email program and look for a message from Hebcal with subject line Activate your Yahrzeit reminders or Activate your Hebrew Anniversary reminders. Click the link within that message to confirm your subscription.

7. In your web browser, click the blue Confirm button to activate your annual reminder subscription.

8. Congratulations! Your annual email reminders are now active. You may view the calendar again or make further changes to the calendar.

CSV Import for Yahrzeit + Anniversary calendar

Posted on by

We’re pleased to announce support for Comma Separated Values (CSV) file import in the Hebcal Yahrzeit + Anniversary calendar. You can now create a personal list of Yahrzeit (memorial) and Yizkor dates, Hebrew Birthdays and Anniversaries for 20+ years by importing a CSV file.

The file must be formatted carefully for the import to work correctly.

The CSV file may contain 1-4 columns. Column names and types are listed below. A header row is optional.

  1. Date: mm/dd/yyyy. Gregorian date of death (or birth), USA date format with 4-digit year.
  2. Name: If blank, defaults to Person1, Person2, …
  3. After sunset: true or TRUE for after sunset; false, FALSE, or (blank) for before sunset. If blank, defaults to false.
  4. Type: Yahrzeit, Birthday, or Anniversary. If blank, defaults to Yahrzeit.

Example file: yahrzeit-example.csv

To try it out,

  1. Create a new yahrzeit calendar
  2. Click on the Import tab
  3. Choose a CSV file to upload from your device
  4. Click the blue Import button
  5. Click on the Form tab to review the imported data
  6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Create Calendar button

Once you have created your personal yahrzeit calendar, you’ll be able to subscribe to free annual email reminders & calendar downloads.