Guide
How do you find candle-lighting and havdalah times for your city?
Look them up for your exact location and date, because both depend on local sunset and sunrise. Candle-lighting is a set number of minutes before sunset; havdalah comes after nightfall. Use a calculator, a printed luach, or your synagogue’s own page.
Why the times differ by place
Shabbat begins and ends by the sun, so candle-lighting and havdalah move with latitude, longitude and the season. A time for a neighboring city, or for last month, can be off by minutes.
Where to get reliable times
Four common sources, in rough order of effort.
- Your synagogue’s weekly bulletin or website, which usually follows the community’s custom.
- An online calculator that takes your city or coordinates.
- A printed luach for your area and year.
- A phone app that follows your location and supports reminders.
Know the custom behind the number
Communities differ on how many minutes before sunset to light candles and on when Shabbat ends. If the figure matters, take it from your rabbi, then use a tool that lets you match it.
A worked example: Zmanym
Zmanym shows candle-lighting, havdalah and daily zmanim for any location. It detects an approximate location or takes a city or zip code, and publishes dedicated pages for 55 Florida cities.
A weekly email carries the times for a chosen city, and a native iOS app adds home-screen widgets and an Apple Watch app. Synagogues can publish their own branded page on the same service.
More on the example: Zmanym.