Overview

YidCal is a custom Home Assistant integration providing comprehensive Jewish calendar functionality in Yiddish and Hebrew. It calculates all dates, times, and holidays independently using your Home Assistant's latitude, longitude, and timezone—requiring no external Jewish calendar integrations.

Core Features

• Holiday & Calendar Support: Tracks the complete Jewish calendar year, including all major holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Chanukah, Purim, Passover, Shavuot) and minor observances.
• Zmanim (Jewish Prayer Times): Calculates precise religious times including sunrise/sunset, dawn, halakhic midday, and various prayer time windows for both Magen Avraham and Vilna Gaon traditions.
• Smart Automation Sensors: Binary sensors track candle-lighting times, havdalah, cooking permissions, and fasting periods with countdown timers.
• Location Precision: Uses reverse geocoding via Nominatim to snap coordinates to municipality centroids for accurate calculations.

Main Sensors

Binary Sensors

• No Melucha: Shabbat/Yom Tov periods when work is prohibited
• Bishul Allowed: Cooking restriction tracking
• No Music: During Sefirah and Three Weeks
• Slichos: With detailed daily labels
• Eruv Tavshilin: For holiday-Shabbat overlap preparations
• Longer Shachrit: Extended morning prayer windows

Zmanim Sensors (15+ Time Sensors)

Special Features

• Upcoming Yom Tov: Tracker with 1-14 day lookahead
• Fast Countdown: Shows 6 hours before fast start
• Sefirah Counter: Omer counting with daily qualities
• Daily Psalms: Rotation options
• Yurtzeit Tracking: Memorial dates with daily/weekly options
• Early Shabbat/Yom Tov: Based on Plag HaMincha or fixed times

Configuration Options

• Israel mode (experimental) with adjusted candle-lighting (30-40 min vs 15)
• Havdalah offset customization (default 72 minutes)
• Talis & Tefilin offset (default 22 minutes after Alos)
• Holiday binary sensor creation toggle
• Day label language (Yiddish vs Hebrew)
• Time format (12-hour or 24-hour)
• Selichos day-change timing (havdalah or midnight)
• Upcoming holiday lookahead period

How Sensors Work

Holiday Sensor

The main holiday sensor provides approximately 90 boolean attributes, each representing a specific holiday or observance throughout the Jewish year. Each attribute is set to true/false based on whether that holiday is currently occurring. This sensor updates daily at midnight and is ideal for creating automations that respond to specific holidays.

Example Uses:

• Trigger special lighting scenes for Chanukah or Purim
• Send reminders before Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur
• Automatically adjust HVAC settings for comfort on Sukkot
• Create custom announcements for each Yom Tov

Zmanim (Time) Sensors

All 15+ Zmanim sensors are datetime sensors that provide precise halakhic times calculated based on your location's sunrise, sunset, and timezone. These times update daily at midnight and automatically adjust for daylight saving time. Each sensor returns a timestamp that can be used as an automation trigger or condition.

Example Uses:

• Trigger morning announcements at Alos Hashachar (dawn)
• Automate lights to turn on before sunset (Shkiah)
• Send Mincha reminders at Mincha Ketanah
• Lock doors automatically at Tzeis (nightfall)
• Display candle lighting times on digital signage 18 minutes before sunset

Binary Sensors

Binary sensors provide yes/no (on/off) states for various halakhic conditions. These are particularly useful for creating conditional automations that should only run during permitted times or specific periods of the year. They update in real-time based on the current date and time.

No Melucha Sensor: Indicates when work is prohibited (Shabbat and Yom Tov). Use this to automatically disable certain automations or send notifications about system restrictions.

Bishul Allowed Sensor: Tracks when cooking is permitted during Yom Tov. Useful for controlling smart appliances and kitchen automation.

No Music Sensor: Active during Sefirah and Three Weeks when music is traditionally restricted. Perfect for controlling multi-room audio systems.

Eruv Tavshilin Sensor: Activates on days when Eruv Tavshilin must be made (when Yom Tov falls on Thursday-Friday). Can trigger reminder notifications.

Display Sensors

Display sensors combine multiple pieces of information into formatted, human-readable strings perfect for showing on dashboards, digital signage, or voice announcements. They update daily and respect your configured language and time format preferences.

Full Display Sensor: Shows the complete Hebrew date, weekly Torah portion (Parsha), and day of the week in a single formatted string.

Molad Sensor: Displays the exact time of the new moon (Molad) in a friendly, readable format when Rosh Chodesh approaches.

Special Feature Sensors

Sefirah Counter: Counts the Omer from Passover to Shavuot, providing both the count number and the daily spiritual quality associated with that day of the Omer.

Upcoming Yom Tov Tracker: Shows the next approaching holiday with configurable lookahead period (1-14 days). Perfect for advance preparation reminders.

Fast Countdown: Activates 6 hours before a fast begins, giving you time to prepare. Shows both the countdown timer and the type of fast.

Yurtzeit Tracker: Tracks memorial dates (Yurtzieits) with options for daily or weekly notifications. Can be configured for multiple dates.

Device Organization

Entities group into five logical devices:

• YidCal: Core calendar and holiday sensors
• YidCal — Display: User-friendly display sensors
• YidCal — Holiday Attribute Sensors: Individual holiday binary sensors
• YidCal — Special Binary Sensors: Automation-focused sensors
• YidCal — Zmanim: All time-based sensors

Installation

Available via HACS (Home Assistant Community Store) with standard integration setup flow. Setup generates initial configuration; subsequent options adjustments happen through Settings → Devices & Services → YidCal → Options.