HALACHIC TIMES
Ranges are WED-WED 9-30 Tishrei (Oct 12 - Nov 2) (22-day range, interpolate accordingly)
Earliest Talit & T'filin - 4:50-5:05am
Sunrise - 5:40-5:56am
Sof Z'man Kri'at Sh'ma - 8:32-8:39am (7:48-7:53am)
Sof Z'man T'fila - 9:30-9:33am (9:00-9:03am)
Chatzot (halachic noon) - 11:25½-11:23am
Mincha Gedola (earliest Mincha) - 11:56-11:53am
Plag Mincha - 3:59-3:41pm
Sunset - 5:15-4:54pm (5:10½-4:49pm)

Candle Lighting & Havdala
(times are: Yom Kippur in and out, Haazinu in and out, 1st day Sukkot in and out, Shabbat Chol Hamoed in and out, Simchat Torah in and out, Shabbat B'reishit in and out)

Notes: All times above are Israel Standard (Winter) Time. For the Fridays and Motza'ei Shabbatot, procedures for candle lighting and havdala are as usual. (See Pull-Out section for further Sukka details.)

Before lighting Yom Kippur candles, it is customary to light memorial candles for parents (and others) who are no longer in this world, and one additional 24-hour candle "for the living" and to provide NER SHESHAVAT, the candle to be used for havdala or to light the havdala candle from. See Pull-Out of TT 687 for details. Yom Kippur candles are lit like Shabbat candles are: light, cover eyes, make b'rachot, etc.

The brachot for Yom Tov candles should preferably be said immediately before lighting the candles (not after lighting, as is standard for Shabbat candles). Covering the eyes is not necessary for Yom Tov candles, if the brachot are said first. A woman may choose to light Yom Tov candles the same way she lights Shabbat candles.

Havdala for Yom Kippur: No intro p'sukim. Wine bracha. No b'samim. Candle lit from flame that "rested" over Yom Kippur. Havdala bracha.
Havdala for Yom Tov is Wine and Havdala brachot only.
See Pull-Out section for Havdala-in-the-Sukka details.

Explanation of the Z'manim

Jerusalem lights candles 40 minutes before sunset. (Except for those who don’t follow that custom.) Which sunset? Important question. The standard practice is to count 40 minutes before “sunset of elevation”. Jerusalem is a little over 800m above sea level. If one could see the sun set over a horizon at sea level (which can be done from some parts of J’lem), it would set about 5 minutes later than someone watching from sea level, or seeing the sun set beyond mountains that are approx. the same height as Jerusalem is. Since the sunset on the same plane is 5 minutes earlier, and for Shabbat purposes is the sunset we would have to consider because of the strictness of Shabbat, then J’lem candle lighting time is really only 35 minutes before “the other” sunset. All other places at some height above sea level have similar problems. Tzfat lights candles 30 minutes before sunset. Official candle lighting for Petach Tikva is 40 minutes before sunset, just like Jerusalem. Not everybody holds by that timing. Some communities calculate Shabbat out at 33 minutes after sunset. Some use the angle of the sun below the horizon to “end Shabbat” (8.5 deg). Bottom line for now: until we get the chart running smoothly, don’t rely on it exclusively. Cross-check times with calendars and charts. Please report discrepancies to us, so that we can improve our time table. Also realize that Sfardim and Ashkenazim often has differences in minhag.

Sunrise for Jerusalem does not take into account elevation, since the eastern horizon (where the sun rises) consists of the Hills of Moav across the Jordan River, which are approx. at the same elevation as Jerusalem

Sunset, on the other hand, is given for an elevation of 825m and, in parentheses, as if at sea level. There are different opinions as to which sunset time should be used for halachic purposes. We present both times.

The deadlines for the SH'MA and the Shacharit Amida can be calculated in two ways. Either considering the day to be from sunrise to sunset or from dawn to stars out. The first way of reckoning is known as the opinion of the GR"A, and is the first time given in each case. The second method is known as the Magen Avraham, and is presented in parentheses.

Aside from candle lighting and havdala, the times are presented as a range, from the current Thursday of the issue of Torah Tidbits until the coming Thursday, a span of 8 days. Days between the two Thursdays can be determined by interpolation (which means: a method by which to estimate a value of between two known values-this is something that people above a certain age might remember from high school trigonometry and logarithms, but younger people who went to school during the calculator era might not be familiar with).

It is usually wise to "pad" the times with a minute or two in the "play it safe" direction. E.g. Plag Mincha. Better to finish Mincha a minute or two before the given time. But, better to not light candles until a minute or two after the given time.