CAJE Jewish Education News Spring, 1990, p. 6 Media Review -- Computer Corner If Not "Hayom" Then When? by Carol S. Holzberg What can you get for the Macintosh-using Hebrew educator who has everything? An on-line Hebrew calendar, of course! But not just any Hebrew calendar. It has to be HaYom, Arnold Reinhold's inexpensive, feature-packed calendar utility. This handy application offers so many goodies, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. If you're looking for a program that prints poster size Jewish calendars, or monthly calendars with pictorial clip art, then search elsewhere (e.g. try Hebrew CalendarMaker from Davka Corporation). If you want an on-line desktop reference, instantly available at the point and click of your mouse, then try HaYom. HaYom (which translated from the Hebrew means today) shows both Hebrew and Gregorian calendar dates, advises you of times of sunrise and sunset, incorporates a bit of Jewish wisdom with each display, and tells you if the inquiry date is a Jewish holiday or the day before a holiday. You'll be warned as sundown approaches on Friday or the day before a Yom Tov, and notified of upcoming Jewish holidays and Hebrew months. HaYom converts from Hebrew to civil dates and vice versa. It performs date calculations and informs you of the Omer count, if applicable. You can print a list of Hebrew birthdays, anniversaries, or yahrzeit dates. If you'd like to know the date of the first night of Shavuot in the year 2001, it's no problem. HaYom tells you almost instantly that it's Monday, May 28 in the Hebrew year 5761. For the program to operate correctly within your geographic location and time zone, you must advise it of your latitude, longitude, and local time. Such information is readily available on any U.S. Geological Survey quadrangle map. But if you don't happen to carry these maps around with you, don't worry. You can configure the required information by selecting from an on-line list of major American cities. Just choose the urban center closest to you. Remember to reconfigure the application whenever you modify the setting for the Macintosh clock, or switch from Daylight Savings to Standard time. The disk includes both large (420K) and small (108K) versions of the HaYom application. The large file contains digitized holiday music and is suitable for operating systems with 800K drives. The small edition has no music, works well in 400K drives, and may be used with machines that do not have Macintosh sound capabilities. Both programs strictly follow the Mac interface. As a result, they are very easy to operate. The 420K version is the one to install if you have the room. You'll hear the (Pesach), and "Hatikvah" (Yom HaAtamaut). If you're running your Mac on Yom Tov or Shabbat, however, be prepared for silence! HaYom retrieves the information you request, but without any music or sound effects. This program is a winner. It provides valuable information for a reasonable price. You'll find that it's lots of fun as well as a handy reference tool. ----------- Product: HaYom (V2.0) Price: $36.00 Minimum System Requirements: Any Macintosh, Performa, Powerbook or compatible. HaYom is also available for Windows. The Windows version does not play music. Company: Directly from the author, Arnold G. Reinhold, 14 Fresh Pond Place, Cambridge, MA 02138: (617) 491-4937. ----------- Carol S. Holzberg, PhD, Shutesbury, Massachusetts, has been working with computers since 1983. She writes for several publications, serves as a computer consultant, and co-directs the preschool for the Jewish Community of Amherst, Massachusetts.