Psion Luach v5.05

The hebrew calendar program

For Psion Series 5


 Aron Landy 1997-9


Contents
 
1. Description
2. Installation Instructions and System Requirements
2a. Shareware Information
3. Suggested Use - Author's Illustration
4. User Instructions: main modules
 5. Locations
6. Halachic settings and calculations
7. Molad & Kiddush Levana
 8. Favourite Cities
 9. Hebrew Birthdays & Anniversaries
10. Hebrew date entry
11. Language customisation
12. Writing to agenda files
13. Shortcut key list
14. Frequently Asked Questions
15. Version History
16. Credits


1. Description

Use Luach for easy calculation of: 
  Shabbat times for every major city in the world 
  Sedrah of the week, special maftirs and haftarot 
  Festival & Fast Dates & Times 
  Barmitzvah Sedrah and Date 
  Yahrzeit Dates 
  Civil - Hebrew Calendar conversions
  Hebrew birthdays and anniversaries
  Last times for Kiddush Levana
  Zmanim for tefillah
  Daf yomi
 Customise Luach according to:
  Where you are in the world (using the Psion World database)
  Your preferred halachic interpretation (pre-set to London Beth Din equivalents) 
  Your preferred spellings/language for agenda entries
 Use Luach to write to (and delete from) your agenda the following.....
  the Hebrew calendar date for every day - e.g. "26Adar1", "Pesach1", "Yom HaAtzmaut" 
(optionally, for notable days only) 
  Shabbat, Festival & Fast times 
  Sidrah, Maftir & Haftarah of the week 
  Yahrzeits 
  Hebrew birthdays and anniversaries
  Year view codes for Festivals, Fasts and Yahrzeits
 
Luach specific help is available throughout by pressing Menu|Tools|Help on Luach or the Help 
button on the toolbar.
 
 
 2. Installation
 
You should have (unzipped) the following files:

File name	Description of file
Readme.txt	Basic information
Latest.txt	Last-minute information, if any
Manual.rtf	This file
Luach503.SIS	This is the main file in SIS format

To install from a PC, connect your Psion to the PC and simply double-click on the .SIS file from 
Windows Explorer or equivalent.

(If you don't have PsiWin 2.1 (or above) or Message Suite, you'll need the Series 5-based 
application installer, instexe.exe as well. This can be obtained from 
http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/mapdown.htm or http://www.psion.com/downloads/index.html Just put it 
in any folder on your Psion and tap on it etc.) 

Third party software
The installation process also installs RMRAlarm.oxh and Systinfo.oxh which are copyright  
Otfried Cheung, and Agenda2.opx which is copyright  Andy Clarkson.  They may not be 
redistributed. For further info on these OPXs please contact their authors.

Memory requirements
Luach requires approximately 100k disk space for installation, and an additional 500k run-time 
space (i.e. 500k additional free disk space for use by the Psion as memory when running Luach).


2a. Shareware Information
Luach is shareware.  You are welcome to use it without payment, however if you find it useful you 
are asked to register.  You may distribute copies PROVIDED that this manual is included in your 
distribution.

Luach Registration
Luach can write diary information into agenda files. In unregistered versions, this function is 
restricted and will only work for dates before a pre-programmed limit.  When you register, this 
restriction is removed.

To register, please send 20/$30 or equivalent to the author at: 56 Primrose Gardens, London 
NW3 4TP, England, or use RegNet (http://www.reg.net) or RegSoft (http://www.regsoft.com) who 
accept credit cards.  Please quote the version number of your program and where you got it from.  
When I receive your cheque or notification of your registration from RegNet/RegSoft, I will give 
you further instructions. PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS if you have one, to make 
it easy for me to communicate with you.

Any comments or suggestions should be emailed to aron@cwcom.net.

Conditions of Use
Before using the software you must agree to the following.  By using it, you are deemed to have 
agreed to them.
1.  Any legal relationship between you and the author shall be governed by the laws of England.
2.  You warrant that you will keep proper complete and recent backups of all files used by the 
program, in particular all agenda files which you access with Luach.
3.  You agree not to decompile, reverse translate, reverse engineer or tamper with the software or 
licence in any way.

Disclaimer
Note that the software is provided as is, without any warranty of any kind.  The author shall not be 
liable for any loss of data or damage arising from the use of the software.

 
 
 3. Suggested Use - Author's Illustration
 
 On my own Psion, I use the program in the following way.
 
 I use Luach's "Write to agenda" function to write the times of Shabbat, Sidrot of the week, Hebrew 
Month/Day names and Festival names into my agenda.  For my vacations, I write the times of 
shabbat for the places I visit.
 
 I don't have any Yahrzeits, but I would write them into my agenda if I did.
 
 I then have everything I need in my agenda.  I use the Luach program to work out other 
information, such as Barmitzvahs, times of Shabbat in other places, other people's Yahrzeits, and 
Zmanim.
 
 
 
 4. Instructions for Use
 
 Main Modules - a tour
 
 The first screen that you will see is headed "Daily Information".  This gives basic information for a 
given day.  To return to it, press Ctrl+D from any other screen.
 
 [SCREEN SHOT OF DAILY INFORMATION]
 
 The top two lines show the date in civil and hebrew calendar formats.  To change the date, press 
Enter, Tab, Ctrl+J or Shift+Ctrl+E or tap on the date.  To move on or back by one day, press right 
or left arrow, and to move on or back by a week, press shift-right or shift-left. To reset to todays 
date, press Space.  To switch the input date type between hebrew and civil, press Ctrl+X.  Using 
these functions you can convert any date to its equivalent in the other calendar.
 
 The next lines show the Day Name (description of the day if it is a special day), Daf Yomi, and the 
location for which calculations are being made.  To change the location, press Ctrl+S (see below 
for more detailed instructions).
 
 The next lines show  the date of the next Shabbat, when that Shabbat starts and ends and the 
Sidrah and Haftarah.  See below for details of how the times are calculated and details of Sidrot 
and Haftarot.
 
 Finally, the date of the next Rosh Chodesh and its Molad are given, with the deadline for saying 
Kiddush Levana (see below for more details).
 
On the right side of the screen, halachic times for the day and location are shown.
 
 If you wish, you can force this display to always show data for the current date. To do this, select 
Lock to Today from the Display menu (Shift+Ctrl+L). The display indicates whether or not the 
date is locked.
 
 Pressing Ctrl+Q scrolls through all of the major views.  The next view is the Shabbat Timetable 
screen. When you press Enter and select a start date, a weekly calendar of Shabbat times and sidrot 
for the following weeks is displayed.  The calculation can be interrupted by pressing Escape. You 
can scroll the display to show adjacent weeks by pressing up, down, page up and page down.
 
 [SCREEN SHOT SHABBAT TIMES]
 
 Ctrl+Q takes you on to the "Calendar of Major Festivals & Fasts".  Each column shows the civil 
dates for the major festivals in that civil year.  Press left & right to change the year by one, Ctrl-
left and Ctrl-right to move a screen at a time, or press Enter/Tab/Ctrl+J/Shift+Ctrl+E to select a 
specific year.  To reset to the current year, press Space.
 
 [SCREEN SHOT MAJOR CHAGIM]
 
 The next view is the "Calendar of Minor Festivals & Fasts", which works in exactly the same way 
as the Calendar of Major Festivals & Fasts.
 
 Next comes the "Barmitzvah Calculator".  Press Shift+Ctrl+I to insert a row into the list or 
Enter/Tab when the cursor is on "<end>" - (press Enter/Tab/Shift+Ctrl+E to edit existing entries) - 
enter the name, birthdate and location of the barmitzvah.  The program will then calculate the 
Barmitzvah sidrah.  Press Shift+Ctrl+S to see the details of the calculation. Shift+Ctrl+D With the 
pen, tap on any name to edit it, and tap on the sidrah or date to see the calculation details. 
 
 [SCREEN SHOT BARMITZVAH]
 
 Next is the "Yahrzeit Calculator".  This list works in a similar way to the barmitzvah calculator.  
The Yahrzeit year can be changed with the left & right keys as well as with Shift+Ctrl+J, and 
Space resets it to the current year.
 
 [SCREEN SHOT YAHRZEIT]
 
 Finally you come to the "Anniversary Calculator".  This works in the same way as the Yahrzeit 
calculator.  Note that although Yahrzeits are a type of anniversary, unusual dates are handled 
slightly differently to ordinary anniversaries (see below for more details). 
 
 [SCREEN SHOT ANNIVERSARY]
 
 
 5. Locations
 
 The location and halachic setting screen is accessed by the key Ctrl+S.  Use this screen to select 
your location, chosen from the cities in the "World" database.  If your location is not shown, add it 
into the "World" database using the Psion World program.
 
 To change cities, either 
  type in the first few letters of your location until it appears, or
  press left/right to move to the previous/next city in the database (in alphabetical order)
 
 The dates for Daylight Saving Time (summer time) are set automatically, but can be overridden.  
Automatic calculation is based on the "Zone" settings in the Psion "World" database.  The rules 
used are:
 
 Zone		DST starts		DST ends	
 Europe		last Sun in March	last Sun in Oct 	
 North		first Sun in Apr		last Sun in Oct	
 South		last Sun in Oct		last Sun in March	
 Const		none			none	
 Israel		first Sun after Pesach	Sunday of Selichot start	
 
 Please take care with DST - countries all around the world change their practice frequently (Israel, 
in particular), so make sure that the dates are those currently in use for your location.
 
 To override automatic Daylight Saving Time, go to the location setting screen.  Press Enter and 
specify manual DST and the Start and End dates.
 
 
 6. Halachic settings and calculations
 
 Luach offers you a great deal of flexibility to choose halachic settings according to your custom.  
To examine the settings, press Ctrl+S, and the screen headed Settings - location & halachic will 
be displayed.  There are three types of halachic settings which you can alter: settings determining 
the times of Shabbat and other zmanim (the first six lines), the period after the molad during which 
Kiddush Levana may be said (line seven), and the rules to be used for unusual dates when 
calculating Yahrzeits and Anniversaries (last two lines).
 
 [SCREEN SHOT HALACHIC]
 
 To edit the first group, press Enter/Tab/Shift+Ctrl+E and select Zmanim.  You can enter the 
definitions for Alot HaShachar, Earliest Talit, commencement of Shabbat, Tzait (i.e. termination 
of) Shabbat, Chag to Chag (i.e. the time that a weekday festival ends when it is followed by 
another festival, e.g. first day of Rosh Hashanah when it falls on Thursday), and fasts.  For each 
item, the definition is the elevation of the sun below the horizon, in degrees, and/or a fixed number 
of minutes to add or subtract.  The exception is Candles, which is the number of minutes before 
sunset when Shabbat starts.
 
 For example, to set Tzait Shabbat to 75 minutes after sunset, enter 0 degrees and 75 minutes.  To 
set Alot Hashachar to 60 minutes before sunrise, enter 0 degrees and -60 minutes (a negative 
number indicating minutes before).
 
 Note: the degrees elevation for Tzait Shabbat, Yom Tov and fasts must be the same, but the 
minutes can differ.
 
 The default definitions are:
 Alot			16  + 0 min
 Talit			11  + 0 min
 Tzait Shabbat		7  + 6 min
 Candles			15.0 m
 
 These work well for London, but other communities use different settings. For example, a common 
setting in the USA is 72 minutes before sunrise for Alot Hashachar, and 72 minutes after sunset for 
Tzait Shabbat, and Shabbat is always brought in 40 minutes before sunset in Jerusalem.
 
 The Kiddush Levana period is set by selecting Kiddush Levana after Shift+Ctrl+E.  You can 
specify the period of time after the molad during which Kiddush Levana can be said (see below for 
further details on molad and Kiddush Levana). The default is 14 days, 18 hours and 22 minutes, 
i.e. half of the time from one molad to the next.
 
 To set the rules for dealing with unusual dates, select YZ/Anniv Rules after Shift+Ctrl+E.  
There are three categories of problematical anniversaries: those which originated on 30th Cheshvan 
or 30th Kislev (since Cheshvan and Kislev have only 29 days in some years), those which 
originated on 30th Adar 1 in a leap year (since Adar in an ordinary year has only 29 days), and 
those which originated on any day in Adar in an ordinary year (since in a leap year there are two 
Adars to choose between).
 
 You can select one of the following ways to deal with the first problem.  For Yahrzeits, if the first 
Yahrzeit (i.e. the first anniversary) was on the 29th of the month, then commemorate on the 29th, 
otherwise commemorate on the 1st of the next month (this is the default setting).  Alternatively, 
always commemorate on the 29th of the month.  And thirdly, always commemorate on the 1st of the 
next month (the default for anniversaries).
 
 In ordinary years, anniversaries of 30th Adar 1 are commemorated on either 30th Shevat (default for 
Yahrzeits) or 1st Nisan (default for anniversaries).
 
 In leap years, anniversaries of events which occurred in Adar of an ordinary year are 
commemorated in Adar 1 (default for Yahrzeits) or Adar 2 (default for anniversaries).
 
 Remember that the rules for anniversaries are also those used for barmitzvah calculations.
 
The zmanim shown in the Daily Information screen but not defined explicitly in the Halachic 
Settings are calculated as follows:
  Kriat Shema: 3 proportional hours after sunrise (a proportional hour is one twelfth of the time 
between sunrise and sunset)
  Tefilla: 4 proportional hours
  Mincha Gedola: 6.5 proportional hours
  Plag HaMincha: 9.75 proportional hours
  Fasts start at Alot HaShachar except 9th Av (which starts at sunset)
  Erev Pesach: Eat up to end of 4th proportional hour, burn up to end of 5th hour
 
 
 7. Molad & Kiddush Levana
 
 The molad is the time of the new moon according to the Jewish calendar formula.  It is shown in 
the "Daily Information" screen in hours, minutes and chalakim.  There are 1080 chalakim per hour, 
i.e. 18 per minute.  (One chelek is 3.33 seconds).
 
 The last time for kiddush levana is shown in the same units.  If kiddush levana can still be said for 
the previous molad, then the deadline for that is shown, otherwise next month's deadline is shown.   
 
 For example, for 12th February 1998:
 	previous molad:  Wednesday 28th Jan 01h 03m 07p (Shevat)     [p=chalakim]
 elapsed time from previous molad to 12th Feb: 14d 22h 56m 11p
 	next molad:      Thursday  26th Feb 13h 47m 08p (Adar)
 
 If you have set the Kiddush Levana deadline to be more than 14 days 22h 56m 10p, then Kiddush 
Levana can still be said on 12th Feb for the molad of Shevat, so Luach will show the deadline for 
saying Kiddush Levana for Shevat.
 
 If, however, you have set the deadline to be less than that, Kiddush Levana CANNOT still be said 
on 12th Feb for the molad of Shevat, so Luach will show the deadline for saying Kiddush Levana 
for Adar instead (which would be the case if you were using the default period of 14d 18h 22m).
 
 
 8. Favourite Cities
 
 To make it easier to switch between locations, Luach has a Favourite Cities function.
 
 Switching location can be a little time-consuming. The reason for this is that all of the time-of-day 
calculations that are carried out by Luach depend on the location and the halachic settings, and as 
mentioned above, different locations use different halachic settings. Therefore to change location 
from New York (using 72 minutes) to Jerusalem (using 7 degrees, with odd DST dates) requires 
you to change the location, DST dates and a number of halachic settings.
 
 To simplify this, use the Favourite Cities. When you have set up the Daylight Saving dates and 
Halachic Settings for a location, press Menu|Settings|Add to Favourites from either the main 
Settings screen. Enter a Short name, which is a name to help you remember the settings by - 
Luach suggests the place name, but it can be anything (since you might want to have more than 
one setup for a city, to enable you to check the times for different communities in the same city). 
The setup - location, DST dates and halachic settings -  is then saved. 
 
To switch to a favourite city, press Menu-Setup-Favourite Cities (Ctrl+F) from any screen.  You 
may have at most 30 favourite cities.

Note that if you have selected a favourite city, then the short name is the name that is used for the 
title of the Shabbat Timetable view, the Daily Information view and times written to agenda 
files.

To quickly jump to your home city (set in the World/Time program), press Ctrl+H. If your home 
city is a favourite city, then Luach will use the saved settings as well as switching city. Otherwise, 
only the city will be changed.
 
 
 9. Hebrew Birthdays & Anniversaries
 
 If you want to keep track of Hebrew anniversaries of events from the Luach program, you can do 
so with the Anniversary screen. If however you want to write Hebrew birthdays or anniversaries 
into your agenda file, that can also be done, using the Write to Agenda function.
 
 For anniversaries, the Write to Agenda function can cope with three types of anniversary:
  those which you celebrate on the civil date but want the occasional Hebrew anniversary (for 
example, you normally celebrate your daughter Sarahs birthday according to the civil calendar, 
but you want to write her Batmitzvah into your agenda)
  those which you celebrate on the Hebrew date only (e.g. the birthday of your nephew Moshe in 
Israel)
  those which you celebrate on both dates (your brother Keiths wedding anniversary - your 
family keeps the civil date, but his in-laws keep to the Hebrew date).  

 In order that your agenda program can generate the civil anniversaries for Sarah and Keith, you 
should record those details in the agenda file in the usual way.
 
 Keep a list in Luachs Anniversary screen of events like Moshes birthday for which you want to 
celebrate ONLY the Hebrew anniversary. 
 
 NB Remember, if you want to see both civil and Hebrew anniversaries, keep the record in your 
agenda file.
 
 When you come to writing anniversaries into your agenda file, Luach will look not only through 
the list of anniversaries within Luach, but also through all the anniversary records stored in the 
agenda file.  So if you want to celebrate both civil and hebrew anniversaries, put the details in the 
agenda file and Luach will find them when it needs to. 
 
 When writing the anniversaries to the agenda, Luach asks you for the name of the anniversary.  If 
you specify a name, Luach tries to find an anniversary record whose name begins with the text you 
gave.  It looks first through your list of anniversaries within Luach, then through the anniversaries 
in the agenda file (if you do not specify a name, Luach finds all of them).
 
 For example, if you wish to write hebrew anniversaries for Martin, type "Mar" in the name entry 
box.  Luach will look through its own list, finding names such as Mark, Mary, Marzipan etc. and 
ask, for each one, whether you want to write anniversary records.  Then it will look through the 
anniversaries that are in the agenda file, and do the same.  For Martins 40th birthday, it writes a 
record like this:
 
 	Martin 40H
 
 [Note: the "H" here can be customised to suit your taste]
 
 
 
 10. Hebrew Date Entry
 
 All dates can be entered as civil dates (e.g. 01/01/1998) or hebrew dates - the entry mode is 
switched over by Ctrl+X.  When entering hebrew dates, all you have to do is to type in any sensible 
text string.  For example, if you want to enter 24th Tishri 5750, all of these entries will work:
 
 24-Tishri-5750
 24Tishri5750
 24/Tish/50
 
 and even 
 
 24T50
 
 Similarly, all of these are equivalent to 2nd Adar2 5758:
 
 2-Adar2-5758
 2Ad2/58
 2A258
 
 Note that when converting your entry into a date, Luach looks through the month names from 
Tishri onwards to find a matching month.  So 'T' becomes Tishri - if you want Tevet, use 'Te'. The 
program works with whatever the month names have been set to be (see 'Language 
Customisation').
 
 
 11. Language Customisation
 
 You can change the spellings of Hebrew months, Sidrah names and everything that is written to 
agenda files.  Possible reasons for doing this include:
 
 a) You prefer Ashkenazi spellings
 
 b) Your agenda and/or Psion is not English
 
 Customisation is done in three sections - Month names, Sidrah names and agenda text.  It is done 
from the menu or using Ctrl+M, Ctrl+N and Ctrl+O respectively.
 
 The list of month names is simply a list of the 12 month names, starting from Tishri.  The 
maximum length allowed for each month name is 10 characters.
 
 The list of sidrah names is a list of 66 items (max 15 characters long).  The first 53 are the names 
of the first 53 sidrot (Bereshit to Haazinu).  The next 13 are special parsha or haftarah names, as 
follows:
 	Shira
 	Nachamu
 	Rosh Chodesh
 	Chanukah
 	Shekalim
 	Zachor
 	Parah
 	Hachodesh
 	Machar Chodesh
 	Hagadol
 	Shuvah
 	Halo Chibne
 	V'Ata Ben Adam
 
 These last two are the haftarot for the sidrot of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim, which are disrupted 
due to Rosh Chodesh, Pesach and double sidrot.  
 
 For these cases, the program follows the ruling of the Rama (Orach Chaim 428:8).  In non-leap 
years, Acharei is always read together with Kedoshim, and "Halo Chibne" is the haftarah.
 
 In leap years, Kedoshim can be Rosh Chodesh or Erev Rosh Chodesh, in which case "Halo 
Chibne" is read for Acharei; and Acharei can be Shabbat Hagadol, in which case "Halo Chibne" is 
read for Kedoshim.  There is only one type of year (a 383-day leap year starting on Shabbat) when 
neither Shabbat is special, in which case "Halo Chibne" is read for Acharei, and "V'Ata ben Adam" 
is read for Kedoshim.  It has only occurred six times this century (1919, 43, 46, 70, 73, 97).
 
 
 [SCREEN SHOT AGENDA1]
 
 The "agenda text" is a list of names of 45 items (max 25 characters long).  The first 33 are names 
of the following notable days in the calendar, for which you can also specify codes for the agenda 
year view:
 	Rosh Hashanah
 	Tzom Gedaliah
 	Yom Kippur
 	Sukkot
 	Chol Hamoed Sukkot
 	Hoshana Rabbah
 	Shemini Atzeret
 	Simchat Torah
Taanit BHB
 	Chanukah
 	Fast of Tevet
 	Tu BiShevat
 	Fast of Esther
 	Purim
Shushan Purim
Purim Katan
Shushan Purim Katan
Fast of First Born
 	Pesach
 	Chol Hamoed Pesach
 	Yom HaShoah
 	Yom HaZikaron
 	Yom HaAztzmaut
Pesach Sheni
 	Lag B'Omer
 	Yom Yerushalayim
 	Shavuot
 	Fast of Tamuz
 	Fast of Av
Tu BAv
Selichot (S)
Selichot (A)
Rosh Chodesh
 
 [SCREEN SHOT AGENDA2]
 
 They are followed by 12 other texts used in agenda entries:
 
 a) the text to precede the name for Yahrzeit entries (don't forget any spaces that you want, none are 
put in automatically).  Yahrzeit entries look like this in your agenda:
 
 	Yahrzeit: Grandma Esther
 
 i.e. they consist of the customisable text (Yahrzeit: ) followed by the "Name" from the list of 
yahrzeits inside Luach.
 
 b) the text to follow the number of years for anniversary entries.  Anniversary entries
 look like this:
 
 	Esther 40H
 
 i.e. they consist of the "Name" from the list of anniversaries inside Luach, then the anniversary 
number, then the customisable text (H).
 
 c) texts for commencement and termination of Shabbat & Festivals, fasts starting and ending, & 
deadlines for eating and burning chametz.  In the agenda, these look like this:
 
 	In (your location city name)
 	Out (city)
 	Fast starts (city)
 
 etc.
 
 d) the word "Omer" - for use in day names which are in the omer
 
e) the notations to be given to the sidrah if there is a difference between Israel and the Diaspora:
Diasp
Israel
The entry in the Agenda will look like this:
Emor (Israel)
Behar-Bechukotai (Diasp)
If you make these items blank, then no notations will be added.
 
 f) Mevarchim - for Shabbat Mevarchim.
 
 
 12. Writing to Agenda Files
 
 Before writing to agenda files, Luach gives you the option of making a backup.  It is strongly 
recommended that you make a backup before writing to an agenda file.  If you do not have a recent 
backup on your PC or memory card, let Luach make one for you.  It will be in the same directory 
as your agenda, with the suffix .bak.  So if your agenda file is called "Diary", your backup will be 
called "Diary.bak". To access it later from the agenda program, press Menu, File, Open File (then 
use Tab to display a list of files) and you should see it listed on the screen.  Move the cursor to 
select it.  It can then be saved as a normal agenda file using the Menu, File, Save As command.
 
 There are six types of data which can be written with the "Write to agenda" function:
  Shabbat, Yom Tov & Fast times for your location
  Sidrah, Maftir & Haftarah of the week 
  Yahrzeits 
  Hebrew Anniversaries/Birthdays
  the Hebrew day name for every day - e.g. "26Adar1", "Pesach1", "Yom HaAtzmaut-Omer 20"
  Day names for Festivals and Fasts (total 42 days) and Rosh Chodesh
 
 Here is an sample screen from an agenda file.
 
 [SCREEN SHOT PSION AGENDA3]
 
 When writing Yahrzeits to agenda files, all Yahrzeits will be written EXCEPT any with names 
beginning with a star/asterisk/* (these are considered test names).
 
 
 
13. Shortcut key List



Normal
Shifted
A
Anniversary
About Luach
B
Barmitzvah

C
Calendar major
Calendar minor
D
Daily information
Delete from list
E
Close
Edit Date/Item
F
Select Favourite city
Find in Agenda
G


H
Go to Home city
Help on Luach
I

Insert in list
J
Jump to date/year

K


L

Lock to today
M
Customise Month names

N
Customise Sidrah names

O
Customise Agenda Text

P


Q
Switch mode

R

Remove from agenda
S
Settings
Show detail
T
Timetable

U
Technical support

V


W

Write to agenda
X
Switch Hebrew date entry mode

Y
Yahrzeit

Z


 
 
 14. Frequently Asked Questions
 
 How do I change the display?
 Press Enter, Tab or use the Menu.
 
 Are my settings saved?
Whenever you exit from Luach or leave it running overnight, a file called luach.dat is created 
automatically, to save settings, favourite cities, barmitzvahs, yahrzeits, anniversaries, and the file 
Names.odb is used for the spellings of Hebrew months, sidrot and names of notable days
 
 How do I enter a Hebrew calendar date?
Ctrl+X switches between civil date entry and hebrew date entry.
 
 In the Day Information screen, is there a quick way to get back to today's date?
 Press space bar.
 
 What do the arrow keys do in the Daily Information screen?
 Left and right move one day at a time, shift-left and shift-right move a week at a time.
 
 How do I fix the Daily Information screen date to always be todays date?
Press Menu|Edit|Lock to Today (Shift+Ctrl+L).
 
 
 In the Calendar of Festivals & Fasts screen, is there a quick way to get back to this year?
 Press space bar.
 
 In the Calendar of Festivals & Fasts screen, why are some dates in italics & underlined?
 Italic dates are fasts which have been moved from their proper date to avoid Shabbat.  The civil 
date for 10th Tevet is underlined if it falls after 31st December (i.e. in the next civil year).
 
 In the Calendar of Festivals & Fasts screen, how can I skip through years quickly?
 Press Enter/Tab to change year, left/right arrows to scroll columns one at a time, Control-left/right 
to scroll by a complete screen.
 
 Yom HaAtzmaut is shown on the wrong day.  Why?
This holiday is celebrated on Iyar 5th, which can fall on Shabbat, Monday, Wednesday or Friday.  
Since 1954, it has been celebrated on Thursday when Iyar 5th was on Friday or Shabbat, and this 
is the rule which is applied in Luach. However in 1997, when 5th Iyar was on a Monday, 
celebrations were moved to the Tuesday in order that Yom Hazikaron commemorations should not 
take place on Motzei Shabbat. Since it is not clear whether this will become the fixed rule for 5th 
Iyar falling on Monday, Luach uses the prior established rule. Please check the actual day of 
celebration each year.
 
 How can I interrupt the Shabbat Timetable mode?
 Pressing Escape will stop it after the current line.
 
 In Barmitzvah mode, what is the "BM Birthday"?
 The 13th hebrew birthday.
 
 Why do I get different times to those published in newspapers?
 You might be using slightly different co-ordinates.  For example, the London Beth Din appear to 
use the geographical co-ordinates of North West London for their calculations (author's note: I 
have found 51 35'N,0 11'W, i.e. Golders Green, to be the best fit to their published times).
 
If you want to work out the zmanim settings to use in Luach in order to get the times published by 
your halachic authority, heres what to do.

First you must work out the exact location co-ordinates that they are using. The easiest way to do 
this is to check the times of Shabbat coming in. Using the Shabbat Timetable view, work out the 
difference between what Luach is showing and what is published. Then
If the differences are not all the same, you must change the latitude of your location.
If the differences are all the same, you must change the longitude of your location or the 
Candles setting in Luach. Candles is usually 15 or 18 minutes (40 for Jerusalem).

Once you have worked out the co-ordinates, you can then work out the setting for Shabbat going 
out. This is usually 7  plus 6 minutes or 72 minutes or 60 minutes, but it is not difficult to work it 
out using the Shabbat Timetable view.
 
 If you want to use a location which is not in the Psion World database, first add the new location 
to the database from the Psion World program, then you will be able to select it from within 
Luach as your location.
 
 What type of rounding is applied to halachic times?
 All times are shown to the nearest whole minute, except for times of termination of Shabbat, 
Festivals & Fasts, which are rounded up to the next whole minute.
 
 What can I write into my agenda?
 There are 6 options:
  Shabbat, Yom Tov & Fast times for your location
  Sidrah, Maftir & Haftarah of the week 
  Yahrzeits 
  Hebrew Anniversaries/Birthdays
  the Hebrew day name for every day - e.g. "26Adar1", "Pesach1", "Yom HaAtzmaut"
  Day names for notable days
 
 My agenda file is already cluttered.  What should I do?
 Make a new agenda file specially for Luach information, and use that one.
 
 Is Daylight Saving taken into account when writing to agenda files?
 Yes. (see above for more information on DST)  Remember to set automatic or manual DST.
 
 I have made a mistake with Write to Agenda.  How can I get rid of the Luach entries?
 Use the Luach menu functions "Find in agenda" or "Erase from agenda".  The program will display 
each relevant record as it finds them (not necessarily in date order) and will prompt you for action. 
You can choose which records to delete and which not.
 
 
 Are the Agenda functions totally safe?
 While tests have shown the Agenda functions to be perfectly safe, it is recommended that you make 
a backup copy of your agenda before transferring data - just in case something goes wrong (see 
above).
 

15. Version History
5.03	First full public realease
5.04	Minor bug fixes

16. Credits
RMRAlarm.oxh and Systinfo.oxh are copyright  Otfried Cheung, and Agenda2.opx is copyright 
 Andy Clarkson, used with kind permission.

 Aron Landy 1997-9
