Shemini Atzeret 2026

October 2026 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 Shemini Atzeret Friday October 2 1 year, 9 months, 2 days or 641 days 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Columbus Day Monday October 12 1 year, 9 months, 12 days or 651 days 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Halloween Day Saturday October 31 1 year, 10 months, 1 day or 670 days

Shemini Atzeret for the year 2026 is celebrated/ observed on sundown of Friday, October 2nd ending at sundown on Saturday, October 3.

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 2026

Friday, October 2nd is day number 275 of the 2026 calendar year with 1 year, 9 months, 2 days until Shemini Atzeret 2026.