Sunday, Monday, Tuesday… So what are they called in Hebrew? Here you can find the Hebrew days’ names and other phrases and facts about days in Hebrew.
| Day (English) | Name (Hebrew) | Pronunciation |
| Sunday | ראשון | Rishon |
| Monday | שני | Sheni |
| Tuesday | שלישי | Shlishi |
| Wednesday | רביעי | Revi’i |
| Thursday | חמישי | Chamishi |
| Friday | שישי | Shishi |
| Saturday | שבת | Shabbat |
Here are a few facts regarding the Hebrew days of the week:
- The Hebrew week begins on Sunday
According to the Jewish faith, the world was created in six days and the seventh and last day of the creation week was Saturday. For this reason, the Jewish week begins the day after Saturday (Shabbat) - Except for Shabbat, the Hebrew weekdays are named after their order
Rishon literally means “first”, Sheni means “second”, Shlishi means “third” and so on. However, the Hebrew word שבת (Shabbat) means “stopped working” or “rested”. According to the Book of Genesis, God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. For this reason, the seventh day is Shabbat, a day that forbids any work in it. There are many laws in the Jewish Bible, especially in the five books of Torah, regarding Shabbat. They focus on the best ways to observe Shabbat as the day of rest. - The Jewish day begins after sunset and not at sunrise
In many parts of the world the day begins at sunrise. While it does make sense, this is not the case in traditional Judaism. There are a few places in the Bible that refer to the day as the period of time between one evening and the next one. To be exact, the start of the day begins after three stars come out.
It should be noted that in ancient times there were several cultures in the Near East in which the day began at night; one of them was the Babylonian. So this tradition is not solely Jewish. - The word day is יום (Yom), and as in English there are many phrases with the word Yom. Here are a few of them:
Phrases with Hebrew Days in them
| Phrase | Pronunciation | English Meaning (literal translation) |
| יום טוב | Yom Tov | Holiday (good day) |
| עשה לילות כימים | Asa leyelot keyamim | Worked hard (made nights as days) |
| שבע ימים | Sva Yamim | Old, aged (full of days) |
| בסופו של יום | Besofo Shel Yom | At the end of the day |
| באביב ימיו | ba’aviv yamav | Young man (spring of his days) |
| יום-יומי | Yom Yomi | Casual (every day) |
| יום השנה ל | Yom Hashana le | Anniversary (day of the year for) |
| יום קטנות | Yom Ktanot | Everyday, not a holiday (small day) |
We’ll finish this list with two more expressions involving days:
יום העצמאות (Yom Ha’atsma’ut) is “Independence Day” in the modern
state of Israel. It refers solely to the Israeli Independence Day, so in case you wish to refer to the Independence Day of a different state you’ll need to add an adjective or a prepositional phrase to the basic phrase. For example:
We can either refer to the 4th of July as “Yom Ha’atsma’ut Ha-Amerikai” or “Yom Ha’atzma’ut shel Amerika”.
יום הזיכרון (Yom HaZikaron) is “Remembrance Day”. In the modern State of Israel Israel there are two memorial days that are national holidays: The Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day and Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Terrorism. These two national remembrance days are held in consecutive weeks between the end of Passover and the Israeli Independence Day.
That’s all from us, have a great day!