Hebcal MCP Server

An MCP server that provides access to Shabbat times and Jewish holidays using the Hebcal API.

Description

This server allows you to get up-to-date and accurate information about:

• Shabbat candle lighting and Havdalah times for various cities in Israel
• The next upcoming Jewish holiday
• All upcoming holidays and Shabbat times

Prerequisites

Install dependencies using uv:

uv add fastmcp requests

Installation and Setup in Claude Desktop

Step 1: Save the File

Save the code in a file named hebcal_server.py in a convenient location on your computer.

Step 2: Configure Claude Desktop

Open the Claude Desktop configuration file:

On macOS:

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

On Windows:

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Step 3: Add Server Configuration

Add the following configuration to the config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "project": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [ 
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/hebcal-mcp.py",
        "run",
        "main.py"]
    }
  }
}

Note: Replace /path/to/hebcal-mcp.py with the full path to your file.

For example:

• macOS: "/Users/username/mcp-servers/hebcal-mcp"
• Windows: "C:\\Users\\username\\mcp-servers\\hebcal-mcp"

Step 4: Restart

Close and restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect.

Available Tools

1. get_shabbat_times

Returns candle lighting and Havdalah times for the upcoming Shabbat in a specific Israeli city.

Input:

• city (str): City name in English

Supported Cities:

• jerusalem
• tel aviv
• haifa
• beer sheva
• ashdod
• eilat

Output: A list with two items:

["2025-11-14 Candle lighting: 16:24", "2025-11-15 Havdalah: 17:20"]

Usage Examples:

• "When is Shabbat in Ashdod?"
• "Show me Shabbat times in Jerusalem"
• "What time does Shabbat end in Tel Aviv?"

Example Response:

Shabbat candle lighting in Ashdod is on Friday, November 14, 2025 at 16:24.
Havdalah (Shabbat end) will be on Saturday, November 15 at 17:20.

Shabbat Shalom!

---

2. get_all_shabbat_times

Returns all Shabbat candle lighting and Havdalah times until the end of the year.

Input: No parameters

Output: A list of all upcoming Shabbat times:

[
  "2025-11-14 Candle lighting: 16:22",
  "2025-11-15 Havdalah: 17:34",
  "2025-11-21 Candle lighting: 16:20",
  ...
]

Usage Examples:

• "Show me all upcoming Shabbat times"
• "When are all Shabbats until the end of the year?"

Example Response:

Here are all the upcoming Shabbat times until the end of the year:

November 2025:
- Friday, November 14 at 16:22 → Saturday, November 15 at 17:34
- Friday, November 21 at 16:20 → Saturday, November 22 at 17:33
- Friday, November 28 at 16:19 → Saturday, November 29 at 17:32

December 2025:
- Friday, December 5 at 16:18 → Saturday, December 6 at 17:32
...

---

3. get_the_next_holiday

Returns the next upcoming Jewish holiday.

Input: No parameters

Output: A list with one holiday:

["2025-11-20 Sigd"]

Usage Examples:

• "When is the next holiday?"
• "What holiday is coming up?"
• "What's the next Jewish holiday?"

Example Response:

The next holiday is Sigd on Thursday, November 20, 2025.

Sigd is a holiday celebrated by Ethiopian Jews, marking the yearning for Jerusalem 
and the Land of Israel, observed 50 days after Yom Kippur.

---

4. get_all_holiday_times

Returns all Jewish holidays until the end of the year.

Input: No parameters

Output: A list of all holidays:

[
  "2025-11-20 Sigd",
  "2025-11-26 Ben-Gurion Day",
  "2025-12-14 Chanukah: 1 Candle",
  "2025-12-15 Chanukah: 2 Candles",
  ...
]

Usage Examples:

• "Give me a list of all upcoming holidays"
• "What are the holidays until the end of the year?"
• "Show me all the holidays"

Example Response:

Here are all the upcoming holidays until the end of the year:

November 2025:
- November 20 - Sigd
- November 26 - Ben-Gurion Day

December 2025:
- December 14 - Chanukah: 1st Candle
- December 15 - Chanukah: 2nd Candle
- December 16 - Chanukah: 3rd Candle
- December 17 - Chanukah: 4th Candle
- December 18 - Chanukah: 5th Candle
- December 19 - Chanukah: 6th Candle
- December 20 - Chag HaBanot and Chanukah: 7th Candle
- December 21 - Chanukah: 8th Candle
- December 22 - Chanukah: 8th Day
- December 30 - Asara B'Tevet (Fast)

Happy Holidays! 🕎

---

Natural Language Interaction Examples

The beauty of this MCP server is that you can ask questions in natural language, and Claude will understand and provide the information in a conversational way.

Shabbat Times Queries

Q: "When is candle lighting in Ashdod?"
A: "Shabbat candle lighting in Ashdod is on Friday, November 14, 2025 at 16:24..."

Q: "What time does Shabbat end in Tel Aviv this week?"
A: "Havdalah (Shabbat end) in Tel Aviv will be on Saturday, November 15 at 17:19..."

Holiday Queries

Q: "What's the next Jewish holiday?"
A: "The next holiday is Sigd on Thursday, November 20, 2025. Sigd is a holiday celebrated by Ethiopian Jews..."

Q: "When does Chanukah start this year?"
A: "Chanukah starts on December 14, 2025 with the lighting of the first candle..."

Multi-City Queries

Q: "Compare Shabbat times in Jerusalem and Eilat"
A: Claude will call the tool twice and provide a comparison of both cities

Contextual Questions

You can also ask follow-up questions:

• "What about next week?" (after asking about Shabbat times)
• "And the holiday after that?" (after asking about the next holiday)
• "What time in Haifa?" (after discussing Shabbat times in another city)

Claude maintains context and understands what you're referring to!

---

Troubleshooting

Server Doesn't Appear in Claude Desktop

1. Verify the file path is correct and has no typos
2. Check that uv is installed and accessible: uv --version
3. Ensure dependencies are installed: uv add fastmcp requests
4. Try restarting Claude Desktop

Runtime Errors

If you encounter errors, check:

• The JSON file is valid (no extra commas)
• All brackets are properly closed
• The path doesn't contain spaces without quotes

Testing the Server Manually

You can run the server directly for testing:

uv run hebcal_server.py

Data Source

Information comes from Hebcal.com - a reliable source for Hebrew calendar information.

License

This code uses Hebcal's public API. Please review Hebcal's terms of service for commercial use.

---

Notes:

• Shabbat times are calculated separately for each city
• Times are automatically updated according to the Hebrew and civil calendars
• Information includes holidays, Rosh Chodesh, and other special days