When does Shabbat start and end?

Evening to evening

The Jewish day begins at nightfall, as in “there was evening and there was morning” (Genesis 1:5), and the Torah says of Yom Kippur “from evening to evening you shall keep your Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:32). Shabbat therefore runs from Friday evening to Saturday night.

Adding time

Between sunset and the appearance of stars is twilight (bein hashmashot), a period of doubt. Shabbat is treated as beginning by sunset and ending only after stars appear. There is also a mitzvah to add some time before and after (tosefet Shabbat). That is why candles are lit before sunset – most communities 18 minutes before, Jerusalem 40 – and why Shabbat ends after three stars.

The end of Shabbat

Calendars give an end time when the sun is about 8.5° below the horizon (around 40–50 minutes after sunset in mid latitudes). Some follow Rabbeinu Tam and wait 72 minutes. After the time, havdalah is said and work is permitted again.

Use our Shabbat times for your city.

Summer, winter and the far north

In winter Shabbat may begin around 4 pm in London or New York; in summer after 8 pm. Many communities in northern Europe and Canada accept Shabbat early in summer, after plag hamincha (about an hour and a quarter before sunset), so that families can eat at a reasonable time. Where the sun does not set in midsummer, local rabbis set the times; ask them.

Ashkenazi and Sephardi ending times

Most Ashkenazi calendars end Shabbat at about 8.5° below the horizon; many Sephardi calendars use a slightly earlier or later time following their own tradition, and those who follow Rabbeinu Tam wait about 72 minutes after sunset. Within a community everyone follows the local calendar.