Jewish Holidays 2026, 2027 and 2028: Dates in the UK

Last verified 27 September 2026 against Hebcal’s diaspora calendar and the official GOV.UK bank holidays dataset.

The main Jewish holidays in 2027 are Passover from the evening of
Wednesday 21 April 2027, Shavuot from the evening of Thursday 10 June, Rosh Hashanah
(the new year 5788) from the evening of Friday 1 October, Yom Kippur from the evening of
Sunday 10 October and Hanukkah from the evening of Friday 24 December. Every Jewish
festival starts at sunset the evening before the date printed in most diaries, and none of them is a UK
bank holiday.

Why Jewish holidays begin the evening before

The Jewish day runs from sunset to nightfall, not midnight to midnight. So when a calendar says Yom
Kippur 2027 is Monday 11 October 2027, the fast actually starts before sunset on
Sunday 10 October 2027 and ends after nightfall on the Monday. That first evening is
called Erev (“eve of”) — Erev Yom Kippur, Erev Pesach, Erev Rosh Hashanah — and it is
usually the day that matters most for planning, because families need to be home, meals cooked and
travel finished before the festival begins.

In practical UK terms, a festival that starts on a winter weekday evening can mean leaving work
early: sunset in London is before 4pm in early December and around 4pm through much of January. In
June it is after 9pm, so an evening start rarely touches the working day.

Why the dates move every year

The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar. Months follow the moon, but a thirteenth month (a second Adar) is
added seven times in every 19 years to keep Passover in spring. That is why the festivals drift by
up to a few weeks against the Gregorian calendar and then jump back. The year 5787, which began at sunset on
Friday 11 September 2026, is one of those leap years — Hebcal shows Purim Katan (“little Purim”, in
the first Adar) on Sunday 21 February 2027 — so the spring festivals of 2027 come late. Easter Sunday 2027 is
28 March 2027 (Easter 2027), but Passover does not start until 25 days later.

Diaspora dates: why the UK has an extra day

Outside Israel, Jewish communities traditionally keep an extra day for Passover, Shavuot and the
festivals at the end of Sukkot, so Passover lasts eight days in London and seven in Jerusalem. All dates
on this page use the diaspora calendar, which is the one followed by UK synagogues. Some Reform and
Progressive congregations keep the Israeli length; if you are an employer, ask rather than assume.

Jewish holidays remaining in 2026 (Hebrew year 5787)

Rosh Hashanah 5787 (Sat 12 Sep – Sun 13 Sep 2026) and Yom Kippur
(Monday 21 September 2026) have already passed. As of 27 September 2026, Sukkot is under way. Still to come
this year:

All three remaining full festival days of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah fall on a Saturday or
Sunday this autumn, so the last weekday festival day of 2026 was Yom Kippur. Hanukkah 2026 has a
night-by-night candle guide.

Jewish holidays 2027 (Hebrew years 5787–5788)

The full list of Jewish holidays in 2027. The “begins” column is the evening the festival starts;
“work-restricted days” are the full festival days (yom tov) on which observant Jews do not work,
drive, write or use electricity, much as on the Sabbath.

Jewish holidays 2028 (Hebrew years 5788–5789)

Major and minor festivals: which ones affect work?

Not every Jewish holiday is a day off, even for the strictly observant. The useful distinction is
between biblical festivals, with Sabbath-like restrictions, and later or minor festivals, when ordinary
work is allowed.

• Full festival days (work restricted): both days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the first
  two days of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, the first two and last two days of Passover, and both days of
  Shavuot. That is 13 days a year in the diaspora.
• Intermediate days (chol hamoed): the middle days of Sukkot and Passover. Work is
  permitted, though many families take them as holiday, particularly with children at home.
• Minor festivals: Hanukkah, Purim and Tu BiShvat. Work, school and travel carry on as normal;
  the celebrations happen in the evening or around the working day.
• Fast days: Yom Kippur is a full festival and a fast. Tisha B’Av is a fast, but not a festival,
  and work is permitted — some people prefer to take the day as leave.

How strictly any individual observes is personal. Plenty of Jewish people in the UK work through most of
these days and take off only Yom Kippur or the Passover Seder evening.

The festivals one by one

Rosh Hashanah — Jewish New Year

Two days that open the Hebrew year and the ten “Days of Awe”. The shofar (ram’s horn) is blown in
synagogue, and apples dipped in honey are eaten for a sweet year. 2027: year 5788 begins at sunset on
Friday 1 October 2027 and the festival ends at nightfall on Sunday 3 October. 2028: year 5789 begins at sunset on
Wednesday 20 September 2028, with the festival running to nightfall on Friday 22 September 2028.

Yom Kippur — Day of Atonement

The holiest day of the year: a fast of roughly 25 hours with no food or water, spent largely in synagogue.
It is the one day on which many otherwise non-observant Jews take leave. 2027: from before sunset on
Sunday 10 October 2027 to nightfall on Monday 11 October 2027. 2028: from sunset on Friday 29 September 2028 to nightfall on Saturday 30 September 2028.

Sukkot — Feast of Tabernacles

A seven-day harvest festival for which families build a sukkah, a temporary hut with a roof of
branches, and eat their meals in it — a challenge in a British October. The first two days are full festival
days. 2027: from sunset on Friday 15 October 2027 to nightfall on Friday 22 October 2027. 2028: from sunset on Wednesday 4 October 2028 to nightfall on Wednesday 11 October 2028.

Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah

Straight after Sukkot come two more full festival days. On Simchat Torah the annual cycle of Torah
readings ends and restarts, with dancing in synagogue. 2026: from sunset on Friday 2 October 2026 to nightfall on Sunday 4 October 2026.
2027: from sunset on Friday 22 October 2027 to nightfall on Sunday 24 October 2027. 2028: from sunset on Wednesday 11 October 2028 to nightfall on Friday 13 October 2028.

Hanukkah — Festival of Lights

Eight nights of candle-lighting marking the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the second century BCE.
It is a minor festival: work and school carry on. 2026: first candle on Friday 4 December 2026.
2027: first candle on Friday 24 December 2027 — Christmas Eve — ending at nightfall on
Saturday 1 January 2028. 2028: first candle on Tuesday 12 December 2028. Full detail in our
Hanukkah 2026 guide.

Tu BiShvat — New Year for Trees

A minor festival marked with fruit (especially dates, figs, grapes and pomegranates), and often with tree planting. 2027: Saturday 23 January 2027, beginning the evening before.
2028: Saturday 12 February 2028.

Purim

The most boisterous day in the calendar, recalling the story of Esther. The Megillah (Book of Esther) is read
in the evening and again in the morning, children dress up, and people send food parcels and give to charity.
2027: from the evening of Monday 22 March 2027 to Tuesday 23 March. 2028: from the
evening of Saturday 11 March 2028 to Sunday 12 March 2028.

Passover (Pesach)

Eight days in the UK commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. Homes are cleared of leavened food
(chametz) and the festival opens with the Seder meal on the first two nights. The first and last two days are
full festival days. 2027: first Seder on Wednesday 21 April 2027, ending at nightfall on
Thursday 29 April. 2028: first Seder on Monday 10 April 2028, ending at nightfall on Tuesday 18 April 2028.

Shavuot — Feast of Weeks

Seven weeks after Passover, Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Dairy foods such as
cheesecake are traditional, and some people stay up all night studying. 2027: from sunset on Thursday 10 June 2027 to nightfall on Saturday 12 June 2027.
2028: from sunset on Tuesday 30 May 2028 to nightfall on Thursday 1 June 2028.

Tisha B’Av

A summer fast day mourning the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem and later disasters in Jewish history.
Like Yom Kippur it lasts from sunset to nightfall, but it is not a festival and work is permitted.
2027: from sunset on Wednesday 11 August 2027 to nightfall on Thursday 12 August 2027. 2028: from sunset on Monday 31 July 2028 to nightfall on Tuesday 1 August 2028.

Where Jewish holidays fall on UK bank holidays in 2027 and 2028

We crossed every date in the Jewish calendar above with the GOV.UK bank holiday lists for England and Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland. Only four days coincide:

• Christmas 2027. Hanukkah begins on the evening of Friday 24 December 2027. Because Christmas Day and
  Boxing Day fall at the weekend, the substitute bank holidays on Monday 27 December and
  Tuesday 28 December both land in the middle of Hanukkah — see Christmas bank holidays 2027. Hanukkah’s last day
  is Saturday 1 January 2028, which is New Year’s Day itself; the bank holiday for it moves to Monday 3 January 2028.
• Easter 2028. Good Friday (Friday 14 April 2028) falls on an intermediate day of Passover and
  Easter Monday (Monday 17 April 2028) on its seventh day, a full festival day. For observant Jewish employees in
  England, Wales and Northern Ireland that Monday is effectively a free day off, which leaves only
  Tuesday 11 April 2028, Wednesday 12 April 2028 and Tuesday 18 April 2028 to book for Passover.
  Scotland does not have Easter Monday, so Scottish staff need the extra day.
• Easter 2027. No overlap: Passover 2027 starts 25 days after Easter Sunday, well clear of
  Good Friday and Easter Monday (see UK bank holidays 2027).

Nothing else coincides. The May bank holidays 2027 and the Spring and Summer bank holidays fall outside
Passover and Shavuot in both years.

Time off for Jewish holidays at work

No Jewish festival is a bank holiday anywhere in the UK, and there is no separate statutory right to take them
off. What there is, in practice, is a combination of ordinary holiday rights and discrimination law.

• Religion or belief is a protected characteristic under section 10 of the Equality Act 2010.
• Indirect discrimination. Under section 19, a rule that applies to everyone but puts people of a
  particular religion at a disadvantage — for example a blanket ban on leave in late September or October, when
  the autumn festivals fall — is unlawful unless the employer can show it is “a proportionate means of
  achieving a legitimate aim”.
• What Acas says. Acas advises that “there is no legal requirement for employers to allow time
  or facilities for religious reasons. But where possible you should try to accommodate any requests.” It adds
  that employers “should try to allow people time off for festivals and services which are important to them. But
  this must not take priority over other reasons for wanting time off.” Suggested ways to manage this include asking
  staff to book well in advance and agreeing what happens if too many people want the same days.
• Paid or unpaid? Festival days normally come out of annual leave, or are taken unpaid by agreement.
  Some employers let staff swap a bank holiday such as Christmas Day or Boxing Day for a festival day; that is a
  contractual arrangement, not a legal right. Our guides to bank holiday entitlement and working on bank holidays explain the rules.

Schools and exams

Schools in England and Wales do not close for Jewish holidays (Jewish faith schools may set their own term dates).
The law does, however, recognise religious absence: under section 444(3)(c) of the Education Act 1996, a child is not
treated as failing to attend on “any day exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body
to which his parent belongs”. In practice, parents write to the school in advance; many local authorities publish
religious-observance guidance listing festival dates. See also our page on schools and bank holidays.

Public exams are the real pinch point. The summer GCSE and A-level series runs through May and June, which is when
Shavuot falls. In 2022 the Joint Council for Qualifications worked with the Board of Deputies and the Department for
Education to move several papers off Shavuot, but said it was “impossible to avoid holding exams on 6th June 2022
entirely”. Dates to check against exam timetables:

• Shavuot 2027: Friday 11 June 2027 and Saturday 12 June — the Friday is a normal exam day.
• Shavuot 2028: Wednesday 31 May 2028 and Thursday 1 June 2028 — both weekdays.
• Passover 2027: Thu 22 Apr – Thu 29 Apr 2027. With Easter early and Passover late, the festival
  is likely to fall in term time for most schools rather than in the Easter holidays.
• Autumn festivals: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot always fall in the autumn term.

If a clash occurs, speak to the school’s exams officer as early as possible: arrangements depend on the exam board
and the individual timetable, and nothing can be assumed once the timetable is final.

How many Jewish people live in the UK?

According to the Office for National Statistics, 287,360 people identified as Jewish in England and Wales in Census
2021 (by religion, ethnic group or both), 0.5% of the population. Just over half (53.6%) lived in London, and the London
Borough of Barnet alone was home to 20.1% of them; Manchester and Leeds are the other main centres. Scotland and
Northern Ireland run separate censuses and are not included in that figure.

That concentration explains why the festivals are very visible in some places — kosher shops closing for
Passover, school absences on Yom Kippur — and almost invisible in others.

2026, 2027 and 2028 at a glance

First full day of each festival (it begins the evening before):

For the bank holidays around these dates see UK bank holidays 2027, UK bank holidays 2028, long weekends in 2027 and the
full list of UK bank holidays. For the difference between the two kinds of day off, see bank holiday vs public holiday.