Calendar

Israel uses two systems to determining day, month, and year: the millennia-old Jewish calendar and the Gregorian calendar used in most Western countries. This means each Jewish holiday begins at sundown on the evening before Gregorian date on which it occurs, and that Jewish holidays do not fall on the same exact Gregorian dates each year.

Clothing

Israel has a Mediterranean climate and culture. Dress is typically casual. Especially during the hot summers, even business people wear short-sleeved, open-collared shirts with no jacket or tie. Winters can be chilly, however, especially away from the coast and at higher elevations. At holy sites and in religious neighborhoods, exceptionally “modest” clothing is expected throughout the year.

Time Zones

During Daylight Savings time in Israel, late March through early September, the time in Israel is 6 hours later than the Eastern Standard Time zone in the U.S.; at other times of the year, it is 7 hours later.

Weather

Winter in Israel begins with showers in October and continues with periodically heavy rainfall from November to March. Eilat and the Dead Sea, however, normally remain temperature during wintertime, even as snow caps Mt. Hermon in the North. From late March to September, there is hardly any rainfall. In late February and the beginning of March, the entire country is green from the winter rains. In the months that follow, the heat climbs, reaching its peak in July and August when the only relatively cool spots (at least at night) are Jerusalem and the northern hills. Temperatures begin to drop by September.