page_title: Am Yisrael Foundation
section_title: Yom HaAliyah
hierarchical_section_title: Am Yisrael Foundation / Yom HaAliyah
caption_attribution_description: English: Joshua Leading the Israelites Across the Jordan on 10th of Nisan
context_page_description: Am Yisrael Foundation is a Tel Aviv and New York-based foundation and umbrella nonprofit organization for a variety of initiatives that promote Zionist engagement among Jewish young adults residing in Israel, including providing leadership platforms for young Jews who have made Aliyah, or are contemplating immigration to Israel.
  The Am Yisrael Foundation describes itself as “a 501 nonprofit organization that launches, supports, and funds initiatives that empower modern Zionist pioneering amongst Jewish young adults." The Foundation serves as an incubator for social entrepreneurial activities that foster Jewish identity, community development, leadership, volunteerism, a culture of Tzedakah, grassroots civic engagement, Zionist action, and fundamental Jewish values.
context_section_description: Am Yisrael Foundation's President Jay M. Shultz was the driving force behind the creation of a new national Israeli holiday, Yom HaAliyah (Hebrew: יום העלייה‎) (Aliyah Day). On June 21, 2016, the Knesset voted in favor of adding Aliyah Day to the calendar. Aliyah Day will be celebrated on the tenth of the Hebrew month of Nisan Hebrew: י’ ניסן‎, when according to the Bible in the Book of Joshua, Joshua and the Israelites crossed the Jordan River at Gilgal into the Promised Land. This was the first documented “mass Aliyah.” Yom HaAliyah was established to acknowledge Aliyah as a core value of the State of Israel and the Jewish People, and to honor the ongoing contributions of Olim to Israeli society. 
  As the tenth of Nisan occurs a few days before the Passover holiday, when schools are not in session, the school system will also mark the holiday on the seventh of the Hebrew month of Heshvan. That date is also symbolic as the Torah portion read out in synagogues that week, Lekh Lekha, relates the story of how the biblical patriarch Abraham is ordered by God to leave his home and his family and go up to the Land of Israel. 
  The Yom HaAliyah bill was presented to the Twentieth Knesset by Miki Zohar of Likud, Hilik Bar of Israeli Labor Party, and Michael Oren of Kulanu.
caption: Joshua leading the Israelites across the Jordan on 10th of Nisan
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