This can be easy if you just follow a
set of slightly illogical rules
Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a
numerical value.Simply add up the
values of the individual letters to get the Hebrew date.
The exception is the leading “5” which
stands for 5000 not 5 and it sometimes ommited entirely.Remember that Hebrew is read
right-to-left so the “leading” character is the rigthmost one.Keep in mind that sometimes, dates such
as 5760 will be shortened to just 760.
The Hebrew dating system precedes
Christian Era by 3760 years, so simply subtract 3760 from the result to
get the Christian Year.Example:
Hebrew 5762 is 2002 CE.This should
be close enough for most usages.One minor point is that the Hebrew new-year is usually 3 months
earlier than the Christian one, giving us 3 months where the Hebrew year
has already advanced and the Christian one is trailing behind.
The quotation mark (“) is sometimes used
as a separator – and sometimes not.It does not have a numerical value and is not important.Simply ignore it and don’t confuse it
with any letter.This way, the year
5762 may be written as 5”762.
Some letters have two possible
notations, one used for mid-word and one for end-of-word placements.I’ve written both formats in the table
for those few letters.
