FAQ: Different Parshas Hashavua in Eretz Yisrael Than Chutz La’aretz

KosherJava Zmanim API FAQ

Question:

Why does the KosherJava Zmanim API seem to sometimes return the incorrect parshas hashavua in Israel?

Answer:

I have had a number of inquiries this year about the incorrect Parshas Hashavua being returned by the API. In all cases this has been a complaint for Eretz Yisrael and not Chutz La’aretz. The explanation is pretty simple and covered in the API documentation for the JewishCalendar class, but may not be clear to all. When the first day of Pesach occurs on a Shabbos, as it did this year (5775), the last day of Pesach in Eretz Yisrael is on a Friday. The following day is a regular Shabbos in Eretz Yisrael with the usual krias hatorah, but in chutz la’aretz it is the 8th day of Pesach, resulting in krias Hatorah for Pesach. The following weeks will have different krias HaTorah in Eretz Yisrael vs chutz la’aretz, and this will continue for a number of weeks until a double parsha in chutz laaretz is added to equalize the parsha. This last occurred in 2012 (before the release of the calendar functionality in the Zmanim 1.3 release) and will occur again next year. If you are coding to display the Parshas Hashavuah for use in Israel, it is important to set the inIsrael(true) flag (it has a default of false).

JewishDate.setInIsrael(true);

A fuller example showing how to set the indicator and showing the comparison of Eretz Yisrael and Chutz Laaretz this year can be seen in this example.

JewishCalendar israelCalendar = new JewishCalendar(5775, JewishDate.NISSAN, 7);
israelCalendar.setInIsrael(true); //set the calendar to Israel
JewishCalendar chutsLaaretzCalendar = new JewishCalendar(5775, JewishDate.NISSAN, 7);
chutsLaaretzCalendar.setInIsrael(false); //not really needed since the API defaults to false
HebrewDateFormatter hdf = new HebrewDateFormatter();
System.out.println("Date\tChutz Laaretz / Eretz Yisrael"));
for(int i = 0; i < 57; i++){
	israelCalendar.forward(); //roll the date forward a day
	chutsLaaretzCalendar.forward(); //roll the date forward a day
	if(chutsLaaretzCalendar.getDayOfWeek() == 7){ //ignore weekdays
		System.out.println(hdf.formatParsha(chutsLaaretzCalendar) + "\t" + hdf.formatParsha(israelCalendar) + " \\ " + hdf.format(chutsLaaretzCalendar));
	}
}

the output of this is

Date               Chutz Laaretz / Eretz Yisrael
8 Nissan, 5775     Tzav / Tzav
15 Nissan, 5775     / 
22 Nissan, 5775     / Shmini
29 Nissan, 5775    Shmini / Tazria Metzora
6 Iyar, 5775       Tazria Metzora / Achrei Mos Kedoshim
13 Iyar, 5775      Achrei Mos Kedoshim / Emor
20 Iyar, 5775      Emor / Behar
27 Iyar, 5775      Behar Bechukosai / Bechukosai
5 Sivan, 5775      Bamidbar / Bamidbar

It should be noted that this discrepancy is not rare and happens about 25% of the calendar years.

Using the Zmanim API 1.3.0 Jewish Calendar Code

Sunrise CalendarThe recently released Zmanim API 1.3.0 added Jewish calendar support to the API. Previously, the API had zmanim support, but no Jewish calendar support. While the calendar code is in beta mode and is subject to API changes, below are some simple code examples using the current 1.3.0 release. These examples of the use of the JewishCalendar and HebrewDateFormatter classes do not fully cover the functionality available in the Zmanim API. Please read the JavaDocs and experiment. Please let me know if there are any calendar related items that you feel should change or be added to the API.

Setting and outputting formatted dates

JewishCalendar jd = new JewishCalendar(); // current date 23 Nissan, 5773
HebrewDateFormatter hdf = new HebrewDateFormatter();
System.out.println(jd); // prints hebrew date in English chars - 23 Nissan, 5773
hdf.setHebrewFormat(true); // change formatting to Hebrew
System.out.println(hdf.format(jd)); // date formatted in Hebrew
jd.setJewishDate(5729, JewishDate.SHEVAT, 21); // set the date to 21 Shevat, 5729
System.out.println(hdf.format(jd)); // date formatted in Hebrew
jd.setJewishDate(5772, JewishDate.NISSAN, 18); // set date to third day of Pesach
System.out.println(hdf.format(jd));
System.out.println(hdf.formatYomTov(jd)); //output Chol Hamoed Pesach in Hebrew
hdf.setHebrewFormat(false); // change formatting to default
System.out.println(hdf.format(jd)); // prints Hebrew date in English chars - 18 Nissan, 5772
System.out.println(hdf.formatYomTov(jd)); //output Chol Hamoed Pesach

Output:

23 Nissan, 5773
כ״ג ניסן תשע״ג
כ״א שבט תשכ״ט
י״ח ניסן תשע״ב
חול המועד פסח
18 Nissan, 5772
Chol Hamoed Pesach

Parshas Hashavua

Please note that the parsha will only input if the date is a Shabbos. This is something that may change down the line.

HebrewDateFormatter hdf = new HebrewDateFormatter();
JewishCalendar jd = new JewishCalendar(5773, JewishDate.NISSAN, 12);
System.out.println(hdf.formatParsha(jd));
hdf.setHebrewFormat(true);
System.out.println(hdf.formatParsha(jd));
jd.back();
System.out.println("Parsha on Friday [" + hdf.formatParsha(jd) + "]"); //no Parsha output on a non Shabbos
jd.setJewishDate(5773, JewishDate.TAMMUZ, 28); //double parsha
System.out.println(hdf.formatParsha(jd));

Output:

Tzav
צו
Parsha on Friday []
מטות מסעי

Rosh Chodesh

HebrewDateFormatter hdf = new HebrewDateFormatter();
JewishCalendar jd = new JewishCalendar(5773, JewishDate.NISSAN, 1);
if(jd.isRoshChodesh()){ //not necessary for formatter
	System.out.println(hdf.formatRoshChodesh(jd));
}
hdf.setHebrewFormat(true);
System.out.println(hdf.formatRoshChodesh(jd));
jd.forward();// roll calendar to second day of Nisan
System.out.println("output[" + hdf.formatRoshChodesh(jd) + "]"); //no output for Rosh Chodesh Formatting

Output:

Rosh Chodesh Nissan
ראש חודש ניסן
output[]

Daf Yomi

JewishCalendar jd = new JewishCalendar();
HebrewDateFormatter hdf = new HebrewDateFormatter();
System.out.println(hdf.format(jd)); //output current formatted date "13 Nissan, 5773"
Daf daf = jd.getDafYomiBavli(); //get the current daf
System.out.println(daf.getMasechtaTransliterated()); //outout transliterated masechta name "Eruvin"
System.out.println(daf.getDaf()); //output current daf (page) number "16"
System.out.println(hdf.formatDafYomiBavli(daf)); //outout the formatted date "Eruvin 16"
hdf.setHebrewFormat(true); //set formatted to Hebrew
System.out.println(hdf.format(jd)); //output date in Hebrew "י״ג ניסן תשע״ג"
System.out.println(daf.getMasechta()); // output masechta name in Hebrew "עירובין"
System.out.println(hdf.formatHebrewNumber(daf.getDaf()));//output the daf number formatted in Hebrew "ט״ז"
System.out.println(hdf.formatDafYomiBavli(daf)); //output daf and masechta in Hebrew "עירובין ט״ז"

Output:

13 Nissan, 5773
Eruvin
16
Eruvin 16
י״ג ניסן תשע״ג
עירובין
ט״ז
עירובין ט״ז

Chanukah

JewishCalendar jd = new JewishCalendar(5772, JewishDate.KISLEV, 25); //set date to first day of Chanukah
HebrewDateFormatter hdf = new HebrewDateFormatter();
System.out.println(jd);//output current transliterated date
System.out.println(jd.getDayOfChanukah()); //output #1
System.out.println(hdf.formatYomTov(jd)); //output Chanukah 1
hdf.setHebrewFormat(true); //set format to hebrew
System.out.println(hdf.formatHebrewNumber(jd.getDayOfChanukah())); //output 1 in Hebrew
System.out.println(hdf.formatYomTov(jd)); // output Chanukah 1 in hebrew

Output:

25 Kislev, 5772
1
Chanukah 1
א׳
א׳ חנוכה

Note, that there is no simple way at this point to output just Chanukah. This will likely change in the future to match Chanukah to the behavior of other Yomim Tovim.

Loop and output an entire year

JewishCalendar jc = new JewishCalendar(5773, JewishDate.TISHREI, 1);
jc.setInIsrael(false); //default false for clarity but not needed. Set to true for Israel
HebrewDateFormatter hdf = new HebrewDateFormatter();
hdf.setHebrewFormat(true);
HebrewDateFormatter hdfTransliterated = new HebrewDateFormatter();
String hebrewOutput = "";
String transliteratedOutput = "";
while(jc.getJewishYear() == 5773){
	hebrewOutput = hdf.format(jc);
	transliteratedOutput = hdfTransliterated.format(jc);
	if (jc.isYomTov() || jc.isTaanis()) {
		hebrewOutput += ", " + hdf.formatYomTov(jc);
		transliteratedOutput += ", " + hdfTransliterated.formatYomTov(jc);
	} else if(jc.getDayOfWeek() == 7){
		hebrewOutput += " - " + hdf.formatParsha(jc);
		transliteratedOutput += " - " + hdfTransliterated.formatParsha(jc);
	}
	if (jc.isChanukah()) {
		if (hebrewOutput.length() > 0) {
			hebrewOutput += ", ";
			transliteratedOutput += ", ";
		}
		hebrewOutput += hdf.formatYomTov(jc);
		transliteratedOutput  += hdfTransliterated.formatYomTov(jc);
	}
	if (jc.isRoshChodesh()) {
		if (hebrewOutput.length() > 0) {
			hebrewOutput += ", ";
			transliteratedOutput += ", ";
		}
		hebrewOutput += hdf.formatRoshChodesh(jc);
		transliteratedOutput += hdfTransliterated.formatRoshChodesh(jc);
	}
	if(jc.getDayOfOmer() > 0){
		hebrewOutput += ", ";
		transliteratedOutput += ", ";
		hebrewOutput += hdf.formatOmer(jc);
	}
	System.out.println(transliteratedOutput + " - " + hebrewOutput);
	jc.forward();
}

Output (most days removed for brevity):

1 Tishrei, 5773, Rosh Hashana - א׳ תשרי תשע״ג, ראש השנה
2 Tishrei, 5773, Rosh Hashana - ב׳ תשרי תשע״ג, ראש השנה
3 Tishrei, 5773, Fast of Gedalyah - ג׳ תשרי תשע״ג, צום גדליה
4 Tishrei, 5773 - ד׳ תשרי תשע״ג
...
6 Tishrei, 5773 - Vayeilech - ו׳ תשרי תשע״ג - וילך
...
10 Tishrei, 5773, Yom Kippur - י׳ תשרי תשע״ג, יום כיפור
...
15 Tishrei, 5773, Succos - ט״ו תשרי תשע״ג, סוכות
16 Tishrei, 5773, Succos - ט״ז תשרי תשע״ג, סוכות
17 Tishrei, 5773, Chol Hamoed Succos - י״ז תשרי תשע״ג, חול המועד סוכות
18 Tishrei, 5773, Chol Hamoed Succos - י״ח תשרי תשע״ג, חול המועד סוכות
19 Tishrei, 5773, Chol Hamoed Succos - י״ט תשרי תשע״ג, חול המועד סוכות
20 Tishrei, 5773, Chol Hamoed Succos - כ׳ תשרי תשע״ג, חול המועד סוכות
21 Tishrei, 5773, Hoshana Rabbah - כ״א תשרי תשע״ג, הושענא רבה
22 Tishrei, 5773, Shemini Atzeres - כ״ב תשרי תשע״ג, שמיני עצרת
23 Tishrei, 5773, Simchas Torah - כ״ג תשרי תשע״ג, שמחת תורה
...
30 Tishrei, 5773, Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan - ל׳ תשרי תשע״ג, ראש חודש חשוון
1 Cheshvan, 5773, Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan - א׳ חשוון תשע״ג, ראש חודש חשוון
...
25 Kislev, 5773, Chanukah 1 - כ״ה כסלו תשע״ג, א׳ חנוכה
26 Kislev, 5773, Chanukah 2 - כ״ו כסלו תשע״ג, ב׳ חנוכה
27 Kislev, 5773, Chanukah 3 - כ״ז כסלו תשע״ג, ג׳ חנוכה
28 Kislev, 5773, Chanukah 4 - כ״ח כסלו תשע״ג, ד׳ חנוכה
29 Kislev, 5773, Chanukah 5 - כ״ט כסלו תשע״ג, ה׳ חנוכה
1 Teves, 5773, Chanukah 6, Rosh Chodesh Teves - א׳ טבת תשע״ג, ו׳ חנוכה, ראש חודש טבת
2 Teves, 5773 - Miketz, Chanukah 7 - ב׳ טבת תשע״ג - מקץ, ז׳ חנוכה
3 Teves, 5773, Chanukah 8 - ג׳ טבת תשע״ג, ח׳ חנוכה
...
10 Teves, 5773, Tenth of Teves - י׳ טבת תשע״ג, עשרה בטבת
...
15 Shevat, 5773, Tu B'Shvat - ט״ו שבט תשע״ג, ט״ו בשבט
...
21 Shevat, 5773 - כ״א שבט תשע״ג
...
11 Adar, 5773, Fast of Esther - י״א אדר תשע״ג, תענית אסתר
...
14 Adar, 5773, Purim - י״ד אדר תשע״ג, פורים
15 Adar, 5773, Shushan Purim - ט״ו אדר תשע״ג, פורים שושן
...
27 Adar, 5773 - Vayakhel Pekudei - כ״ז אדר תשע״ג - ויקהל פקודי
...
15 Nissan, 5773, Pesach - ט״ו ניסן תשע״ג, פסח
16 Nissan, 5773, Pesach,  - ט״ז ניסן תשע״ג, פסח, א׳ בעומר
17 Nissan, 5773, Chol Hamoed Pesach,  - י״ז ניסן תשע״ג, חול המועד פסח, ב׳ בעומר
18 Nissan, 5773, Chol Hamoed Pesach,  - י״ח ניסן תשע״ג, חול המועד פסח, ג׳ בעומר
19 Nissan, 5773, Chol Hamoed Pesach,  - י״ט ניסן תשע״ג, חול המועד פסח, ד׳ בעומר
20 Nissan, 5773, Chol Hamoed Pesach,  - כ׳ ניסן תשע״ג, חול המועד פסח, ה׳ בעומר
21 Nissan, 5773, Pesach,  - כ״א ניסן תשע״ג, פסח, ו׳ בעומר
22 Nissan, 5773, Pesach,  - כ״ב ניסן תשע״ג, פסח, ז׳ בעומר
23 Nissan, 5773,  - כ״ג ניסן תשע״ג, ח׳ בעומר
...
26 Nissan, 5773 - Shmini,  - כ״ו ניסן תשע״ג - שמיני, י״א בעומר
...
6 Sivan, 5773, Shavuos - ו׳ סיוון תשע״ג, שבועות
7 Sivan, 5773, Shavuos - ז׳ סיוון תשע״ג, שבועות
...
17 Tammuz, 5773, Seventeenth of Tammuz - י״ז תמוז תשע״ג, שבעה עשר בתמוז
...
9 Av, 5773, Tishah B'Av - ט׳ אב תשע״ג, תשעה באב
...
15 Av, 5773, Tu B'Av - ט״ו אב תשע״ג, ט״ו באב
...

Zmanim API 1.3.0 Released

The Zmanim API version 1.3.0 was released on March 4th, 2013 כ״א אדר תשע״ג. Various changes in the new release VS the previous version 1.2.1 that was released in May 2010 can be seen below. This release includes beta support for Jewish Calendar calculations as well as a number of updated zmanim and refactored code. The Jewish Calendar support in the Zmanim API is based on Avrom Finkelstien’s HebrewDate project released in 2002. Unlike the Zmanim code, the Jewish calendar interfaces may change significantly in the future (see Jay Gindin’s various changes that may make it into this API) and should therefore be considered beta.

Changes in the Zmanim API 1.3.0 release

Changes since March 23, 2011 have been in SVN and detailed changes can be seen there.