Zmanim WP

Description

This plugin lets WordPress administrators configure a variety of shitot (halachic opinions) on time calculation. A series of shortcodes, along with standard options to control the date, formatting, time offset, and more. These shortcodes can be used to display the zmanim (times) in any post, page, widge, or even outbound email coming from the site.

Introduction

This plugin would not be possible without the amazing kosher java library by Eliyahu Hershfeld, which has been ported to PHP by the incredible Zachary Weixelbaum.

For a synagogue or other (Jewish) religious institution, providing times for daily tefillot prayers, fasts, and events (candle lighting, sundown, etc) is not only critical to the mission of the organization, but extremely work-intensive. Either an admin had to go in and change those times by hand (sometimes daily); or link to external sources (hebcal.com,myzmanim.com, or even google spreadsheets).

These options had multiple drawbacks, the most critical among them being:
– the times provided by the external source can’t be customized (to show 5 minutes before Mincha Gedola, for example)
– the times can’t be displayed on the page or post, but rather only allow for a link that takes the visitor out of the organization’s website.
– No support for the full range of WordPress options (pages, posts, widgets, automatic emails, etc)

Zmanim WP addresses all of these issues and more.

First, the WordPress admin provides location information and selects from a range of shitot (halachic opinions) which will use the kosher java library by Eliyahu Hershveld. This sets up the fundamental time calculations.

Next, pages, posts, widges, etc can be created using a comprehensive list of shortcodes which allow the display of various zmanim across the website.

The admin page options and shortcodes are described in detail below.

A note about free vs paid

Zmanim WP is a “freemium” product. As such, the core features are available without any charge, but certain advanced options are only available in the paid version. Paid items are noted with an asterisk (*) below.

To download the free version, click here.

To download/upgrade to the paid version with extra features, click here.

Usage – the Admin Panel

The admin panel lets you set some basic information about the website – location, name, etc – and also select from a list of pre-set time calculation systems.

For the drop-down selections (Alot Hashachar, Misheyakir, etc), there is a detailed explanation of each option at the bottom of this README file.

Details information appear below.

Zmanim WP Page

On the initial page, you can set the following items:

– Time Zone – The IANA Time Zone formatted string for the time zone of the website. All time calculations will take this time zone into consideration.
– Latitude/Longitude – The standard latitude and longitude for this location.
– Location Name – Any name you want to give.
– Molad Text – The text which will be used as the title for the section announcing the Molad. This can include HTML formatting.
– Rosh Chodesh Text – The text which will be used as the title for the section announcing Rosh Chodesh. This can include HTML formatting.

Standard Times

The standard times page is where you select your shitot for each of the various zmanim. Open the drop-down next to each item and select the appropriate shita. For a brief explanation of each of the zmanim, see this page on the Orthodox Union web site.

– Candle Offset – Time, in minues, before shkia that candles will be lit for Shabbat
– Alot Hashachar – “daybreak”, or the time when some light is visible.
– Misheyakir – the time when one can put on Tallit and Tefillin.
– Sha’ah Zmanim – A halachic hour, or 1/12 of the available daylight time.
– Sof Zman Kria Shema – the latest time one can say Shema.
– Sof Zman Tefilla – the latest time one can pray Shacharit.
– Mincha Gedola – The earliest time one can pray Mincha
– Mincha Ketana – by some authorities, the preferable time to pray Mincha
– Plag HaMincha – the mid-point between Mincha Ketana and sunset, and and used for various decisions about when to light candles, pray on Friday, etc.
– Start of Bain HaShmashot – “Twilight”, or the time between Shkia (sunset) and Tzait haKochavim (nightfall)
– Tzait haKochavim – “Nightfall”, or the starting time for varios mitzvot that are to be performed at night.

NOTE: Netz haChama (sunrise) and Shkia (sunset) are always calculated using nautical sunrise / sunset at sea level for the given latitude and longitude.

Early Shabbat Options\*

Some congregations prefer to switch to “early” times to begin Shabbat between spring and fall, when days are longer. The Zmanim WP plugin allows you to automatically set the start and stop date based on:

– A Gregorian (secular) date
– A Hebrew date
– When either plag or sunset (Shkia) occur after a set time
– During daylight savings time

You can identify the start and end date for early Shabbat based on a single condition above, or based on a combination of the above factors.

Once set, there are four available shortcodes: [zman_early_shabbat_1] through [zman_early_shabbat_4]. Each shortcode has possible results: something to display when it’s early Shabbat, and something to display when it’s regular time.

You can set the early/regular display using any combination of plain text, HTML, and other Zmanim WP shortcodes.

Example 1: early Mincha (on Friday only) should be 20 minutes before Plag haMincha. Regular Mincha should be 22 minutes before Shkia (sunset). For this you’d set the “Early Calculation” to be: [zman_plag offset=-20 date=”friday”]. And the “Regular Calculation” to: [zman_sunset offset=-22 date=”friday”]

Example 2: On Friday nights, Shir haShirim is sung either 35 minutes before Plag haMincha (if it’s early Shabbat); or after Kabbalat Shabbat (if it’s regular time). For this you’d set the “Early Calculation” to: [zman_plag offset=-35 date=”friday”]; and the “Regular Calculation” to: “after Kabbalat Shabbat”

Full Year Display\*

Many congregations like to publish a full year’s worth of zmanim, in column-and-row format. This page allows for a grid of times with the following configuration options:

At the top of the page, the administrator chooses whether the display will start on January 1 (and sets the year); or 1 Tishrei (and sets the year).

NOTE: the correct (secular / Hebrew) year must be used in combination with start date.
ALSO NOTE: Leaving this blank will default to the current year.

Finally, select whether the rows will display each day, or just a single day in each week. If “weekly” is chosen, the day of the week to display is also required.

Then, in the table display at the bottom of the page, the admin will set the column titles and what should display in each column.

– The titles can contain any combination of text and HTML.
– The actual display should can use any combination of text, HTML, and Zmanim WP shortcodes.

NOTE: Up to 10 columns are available.

To use this feature, add the shortocde “[zman_fullyear]” once on a post or page. The entire table will be rendered whenever it’s displayed.

Usage

Shortcodes are the primary focus of the Zmanim WP plugin. While configuration seems important at first, it’s generally a one-time activity. As a reminder, these shortcodes can can be used in almost any area of the WordPress system including Posts, Pages, Widgets, and any other element (whether it’s built-in or an add-on option via another plugin) that supports shortcodes.

Broadly speaking, shortcodes consist of a keyword surrounded by square brackets. For this Zmanim WP, all shortcodes begin with the?zman_?prefix.

Example:
[zman_alot]

Most of the Zmanim WP shortcodes will take optional parameters after the main keyword. These parameters allow administrators to control everything from the language used to the format a time appears in to an offset of minutes before or after the calculated zman.

Examples:
1) Display the Torah Portion in Hebrew rather than English:
[zman_parsha lang=”hebrew”]

2) Display the time 20 minutes before Shkia (sunset):
[zman_sunset offset=-20]

3) Display the time for misheyakir, but show military style time with seconds and am/pm:
[zman_misheyakir dateformat=’H:i:s a’]

Shortcode Options

The parameters which are available across all (or at least most) Zmanim WP shortcodes are:
– date: Indicates relative or specific date you want. Valid options include:
– today – show the time for the current date (when the page / post is being viewed)
– tomorrow – show the time for the day after the current date
– sunday, monday, tuesday, etc – show the time for the next upcoming weekday indicated.
– (actual date) – Any reasonable date format (2023-01-20, Jan 20, 2023, 1/20/23, etc.) will show the time for that specific date.

Example: [zman_alot date="Wednesday"]
Example: [zman_alot date="2023-01-20"]

Notes: Leaving this option blank defaults to “today”.

– offset: A number of minutes (including fractions – i.e. 10.5), either positive or negative, to adjust the time by.

Example: [zman_alot offset=-10]
Example: [zman_alot offset=20]
Example: [zman_alot offset=+20]

Notes: Leaving this option blank defaults to 0. If no sign (+ or -) is given, the number is assumed to be positive.

– dateformat: this takes PHP codes to format the output. Here’s a nice tutorial on those codes. And here is the full PHP page on the topic.

Example: [zman_alot dateformat="m/d/Y h:i:s a"]

Notes: Leaving this option blank defaults to “h:i a”, or hh:mm am/pm (i.e.: 10:32 pm).

Special-case shortcode options

The following parameters only work with certain Zmanim WP shortcodes.

lang
It displays the information in English (the default) or Hebrew. Applies to: Rosh Chodesh ([zman_chodesh]), the Molad ([zman_molad]), and the Parsha ([zman_parsha]).
Example: [zman_parsha lang="hebrew"]

month
Indicates a specific Hebrew month. Applies to: Rosh Chodesh ([zman_chodesh]) and the Molad ([zman_molad]).

Valid options include:

– this – show information for the end of this month, beginning of next month.
– next – show information for the end of next month.
– Specify a particular month, by number. This uses the Hebrew month numbering, with Nissan = 1.

Example: [zman_chodesh month=1 ]

NOTE: If you specify a year (see below), you may get Rosh Chodesh for a date which has already passed (i.e.: If you ask for month=4 (Tammuz), and it’s already Elul (month 6))

year
Indicates the Hebrew year you’d like for this calculation. It uses the same options as “month” (this, next, or a number). Applies to: Rosh Chodesh ([zman_chodesh]) and the Molad ([zman_molad]).

Example: [zman_chodesh year="next"]

timeformat
Like dateformat (see above) this uses PHP formatting codes to specify the time format. This extra option is needed because Misheyakir Weekly is intended to show this zman for multiple days in a series, with separate date and time formatting.
Applies to: Weekly Misheyakir display ([zman_misheyakirweekly]).

daynum
The day number 0-6, where 0 is Sunday), for a list of times.
Applies to: Weekly Misheyakir display ([zman_misheyakirweekly]) See that shortcode below for more information and examples.

Complete Shortcode Listing

This is the full list of Zmanim WP shortcodes, with description when the shortcode name itself doesn’t make it self-evident.

Location and Reference
– zman_location – Displays the location, as defined on the admin page.
– zman_lat – Shows the latitude, as defined on the admin page.
– zman_long – Shows the longitude, as defined on the admin page.
– zman_tzone – Shows the Time Zone, as defined on the admin page.

Special Dates and Days
– zman_shaah – A halachic hour, or 1/12 of the available daylight, as calculated based on the shita selected in the drop-down on the admin page.
– zman_parsha – Provides the Torah reading for that week
– zman_zmandate – Provides the date
– zman_chodesh – The day(s) for the indicated Rosh Chodesh. If the date indicated is “today” or “next”, text ONLY be visible if this week/next week is Rosh Chodesh.
– zman_molad – The day/time for the indicated Molad. If the date indicated is “today” or “next”, text ONLY be visible if this week/next week is the Molad.

Standard Zmanim
– zman_sunrise – Netz haChachma (nautical sunrise, without elevation).
– zman_sunset – Shkia (nautical sunset, without elevation).
– zman_candles – The time for Shabbat candles, which is sunset/shkia minus the number of minutes indicated on the admin page.
– zman_alot – Alot haShachar (earliest time for tallit & tefillin).
– zman_misheyakir – Misheyakir (earliest time for tefillot).
– zman_shema – Sof Zman Kriat Shema (latest time to say Shema)
– zman_tefilla – Sof Zman Tefilla (latest time to say Shacharit)
– zman_gedola – Mincha Gedola
– zman_ketana – Mincha Ketana
– zman_plag – Plag haMincha
– zman_bain – B’ain haShmashot (time between sunset/shkia and tzeit haKochavim).
– zman_tzait – Tzait haKochavim (the time 3 stars are visible in the night sky).

Advanced and Special Zmanim
The following shortcodes are only available in the paid version of the Zmanim WP plugin. To download/upgrade to the paid version with extra features, click here.

– zman_earlyshkia -Displays the earliest shkia time for the week (Sunday – Thursday) in which the provided date occurs.
Example 1: show earliest shkia for this week:
[zman_earlyshkia]
Example 2: show earliest shkia for next week:
[zman_earlyshkia date=”next”]
– zman_lateshkia – Displays the latest shkia time for the week (Sunday – Thursday) in which the provided date given
– zman_fullyear* – as described in the “Full Year Display” section above, this displays a grid of times for a complete year.
– zman_early_shabbat_1* through zman_early_shabbat_4* – As described in the “Early Shabbat Options” section above, each of these will display one of two shortcode outputs for early/regular Shabbat.
– zman_misheyakirweekly – provide an array of times for misheyakir, either for this week or next week. Specific times are accessed by using the “daynum” option.

Example 1: Misheyakir for Sunday of next week, displaying “Sun 01/14″ for the date format and then the time:
[zman_misheyakirweekly date=”next” dateformat=”D m/d” daynum=0]

Example 2: Misheyakir for Monday of this week, displaying “01/14″ for the date format and then the time:
[zman_misheyakirweekly date=”this” dateformat=”m/d” daynum=1]

Example 3: Misheyakir for Tuesday of next week, displaying “TUE” for the date format and military time with seconds:
[zman_misheyakirweekly date=”this” dateformat=”D” timeformat= “h:s:i” daynum=d]

Reviews

Screenshots

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Installation

As with most WordPress plugins, you download the zip file and Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.

From there, see the “Details” section for set up, and “Usage” for information on the shortcodes.

Or you can head over to my web page

FAQ

None at this time. If you have one, ask it here

Reviews

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

1.0

• Initial release