Yom HaAliyah (Hebrew: יום העליה) is a national, modern-day holiday celebrated in Israel for many years; it was officially made into law in 2016. This year it begins at sundown on Saturday, October 24, 2020, and ends at nightfall on Sunday, October 25, 2020. The Yom HaAliyah holiday was specifically chosen to be celebrated on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the biblical date on which Joshua led the Jewish people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Deut 27:2-3 NIV

Aliyah is honored in the modern state of Israel for the vast contributions of the millions of Olim (immigrants) who have returned from the nations to make Israel their home. The Israeli Declaration of Independence document makes a profound opening statement, which reads in part:

The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world. After being forcibly exiled from their Land, the People kept faith with it throughout their dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their national freedom. Impelled by this historic association, Jews strove throughout the centuries to go back to the land of their fathers and regain statehood. In recent decades, they returned in their masses. They reclaimed a wilderness, revived their language, built cities and villages, and established a vigorous and ever-growing community, with its own economic and cultural life. They sought peace, yet were ever prepared to defend themselves. They brought blessings of progress to all inhabitants of the country.

Aliyah is a prayer in the heart of Jewish people. The profound prayer below is prayed on Shabbat, on Jewish holidays, in Israel and throughout synagogues all over the world.

…Remember our brethren, the whole house of Israel, in all the lands of their dispersion. Speedily bring them to Zion your city, to Jerusalem, dwelling of your name, as it is written in the Torah of your servant Moses: ‘Even if your exiles are at the end of the heavens, the Lord, your God, will gather you from there, and He will take you from there. And the Lord, your God, will bring you to the land which your forefathers possessed, and you too will take possession of it, and He will do good to you, and He will make you more numerous than your forefathers.

Let us join our Jewish brothers and sisters as they honor and celebrate the Olim (immigrants) who have showed such courage and commitment to return to Israel. Let us also continue to pray for the many millions who still need to make that crossing into the Promised Land, the Land God gave to their forefathers. 

This year, I’m sure this celebration will look very different, compared to what it has been in years past, but celebrate they will. The Land and the people of Israel demonstrate the love and faithfulness of the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Aliyah is a modern-day miracle happening now as God continues to gather His people home to Israel. Nothing can stop the miracle of the greater Aliyah that is coming.

Pictured below is one of the hundreds of people that we have had the honor to assist make Aliyah this year. They are now part of the fabric of Jewish life in the land of milk and honey.

Mathew and family:  “Israel is our history, both familial and as a people. Our roots are planted there, and our future will blossom there.”

Israel is not a land you escape to; it’s a homecoming! Let’s rejoice with millions who are now living in the Land. We have hundreds of people going through the Aliyah process who need our prayers and our support. Please help us to continue to bless our Jewish brothers and sisters; it’s your prayers and your giving that enable us to continue to provide much-needed assistance for the task at hand. Will you pray about making a special contribution for the Aliyah that is continuing to build?

During these unprecedented and critical days, we stand together in prayer for our nation and for the peace of Jerusalem.

John Prosser
President & CEO