Days of the Week in Hebrew (And Why They're All Numbers)

The first time I told a friend from Europe that Hebrew days of the week are basically just numbered, she laughed and said, "That's the lowest-effort naming system I've ever heard." She's not wrong. Hebrew doesn't name its weekdays after gods, planets, or pagan festivals. It calls them first day, second day, third day, and so on. Here's the complete system, and the one exception.

The seven days

• Yom rishon (יוֹם רִאשׁוֹן), Sunday. Literally "first day".
• Yom sheni, Monday. "Second day".
• Yom shlishi, Tuesday. "Third day".
• Yom revi'i, Wednesday. "Fourth day".
• Yom chamishi, Thursday. "Fifth day".
• Yom shishi, Friday. "Sixth day".
• Shabbat, Saturday. The one exception.

Yes, the Israeli week starts on Sunday, not Monday. Sunday is a work day in Israel, and the weekend runs Friday afternoon through Saturday night.

Why the days are numbered

The numbered days come from the Torah's creation story: six days of creation followed by a day of rest. The seventh day (Shabbat) gets its own special name because it's considered sacred. The other six days are just counted from Sunday.

This is also why Israelis often use the short form of each day in casual speech. Instead of saying "Monday" they might say yom beit (literally "day 2"), using the letter beit as a shorthand for the number 2. It's a small cultural thing, and you'll see it on printed schedules and forms.

Shabbat: the special one

Shabbat comes from the Hebrew root meaning "to rest". It's the weekly day of rest that's been central to Jewish life for thousands of years. In modern Israel, Shabbat runs from Friday evening (at sunset) to Saturday evening.

During Shabbat, most Israeli shops close, buses stop running, and many families gather for Friday night dinner. Even secular Israelis often observe Shabbat as family time, even if they don't follow religious rules.

The weekend

The Israeli weekend runs Shabbat ve-yom rishon? Not quite. The Israeli weekend is Friday and Saturday, not Saturday and Sunday.

• Sof ha-shavua, end of the week / weekend.
• Yom shishi, Friday (the first weekend day).
• Shabbat, Saturday.

If someone invites you out on shishi ba-erev (Friday night), that's the Israeli equivalent of Saturday night in the US. The vibe is going out, parties, dinners with friends.

Using days in sentences

Here's how to talk about days naturally:

• Hayom yom shlishi, today is Tuesday.
• Machar yom revi'i, tomorrow is Wednesday.
• Be-yom chamishi ani nifgash im Dani, on Thursday I'm meeting with Dani.
• Shabbat shalom, a peaceful sabbath. The traditional Friday greeting.

Notice the be- before the day name when you want to say "on" a day.

Shabbat shalom: the universal Friday greeting

Every Friday afternoon in Israel, people start saying shabbat shalom to each other. Even secular Israelis say it. Even tourists who just learned it say it. It's the friendliest word in the week, and responding with shabbat shalom u'mevorach (a peaceful and blessed sabbath) earns you a warm smile.

A helpful pattern

If you already know Hebrew ordinal numbers (first, second, third), you basically already know the days. Rishon (first) = Sunday. Sheni (second) = Monday. And so on. Learning one set teaches you the other.

For more time vocabulary with audio, our topics pages include days and dates. And our phrases section has scheduling sentences for daily life.

Six numbered days and one special one. That's the whole Hebrew week. Yalla, shabbat shalom.