Shemini Atzeret 2016

October 2016 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Columbus Day Monday October 10 -8 years -20 days or -2942 days 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Shemini Atzeret Monday October 24 -8 years -6 days or -2928 days 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Halloween Day Monday October 31 -7 years, -11 months, -30 days or -2921 days

Shemini Atzeret for the year 2016 is celebrated/ observed on sundown of Sunday, October 23rd ending at sundown on Monday, October 24th.

Shemini Atzeret, with Shemini meaning eighth follows the seven day holiday of Sukkot and can be considered the eighth day of Sukkot in many ways but not all ways. This day on the Hebrew calendar falls on 22 Tishrei. Many in Israel will celebrate Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah on the same day, however others in the rest of the world will celebrate them one day after the other making them two separate holidays with Simchat Torah falling on 23 Tishrei.

Why do Jewish holidays start at nighttime?

According to the Torah, the story of creation in Genesis says “And it was evening, and it was morning day one”, “And it was evening, and it was morning; the second day”, thus night comes before day. So for the Jewish calendar all days begin at nightfall and end the next day at nightfall including holidays.

Days to the start of Shemini Atzeret 2016

Monday, October 24th is day number 298 of the 2016 calendar year with -8 years, -6 days until Shemini Atzeret 2016.