<Li> Semester 1: From 1 September to late January or early February . </Li> <Li> Semester 2: From late January or early February to late June . </Li> <P> Until 2011 the summer break ended on August 31, but in 2011 Israeli ministry of education decided to shorten the summer break by one week and the break now ends on August 26 as of 2012 . In 2014, the old schedule was reinstated so that the summer break is back to August 31 . The period between Yom Kippur and Sukkot was added as holiday to compensate for this but as of 2014, has consequently been removed . </P> <P> In most Yeshivas, the year is divided into three periods (terms) called zmanim . Elul zman starts from the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul and extends until the end of Yom Kippur . This is the shortest (approx . six weeks), but most intense semester as it comes before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur . Winter zman starts after Sukkot and lasts until just before Passover, a duration of five months (six in a Jewish leap year). Summer semester starts after Passover and lasts until either the middle of the month of Tammuz or Tisha B'Av, a duration of about three months . During the interim periods, which are called bein hazmanim (between the terms), students are on vacation . </P>

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