A special celebration took place on Sunday in honor of Yom HaAliyah (the day of Aliyah), which is celebrated on the 10th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan.

It is on this date in the year 2488 of the Jewish calendar (1273 B.C.E) that the first mass Aliyah in history took place, when the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan into the land of Israel.

Yom HaAliyah began as a grassroots young Olim movement and in March 2014 the Yom HaAliyah Bill was first submitted in the 19th Knesset as the next step in codifying the 10th of Nisan holiday in Israeli law.

Sunday’s celebration was organized by the Am Yisrael Foundation, whose president Jay Shultz told Arutz Sheva, “Yom HaAliyah celebrates Aliyah as a core value of the state of Israel and the contributions olim have and continue to make to this society.”

“It’s on this day that we’re excited that Jews in Israel and around the world, as they enter the Seder a few days from now, on the night of the Seder they should have Aliyah on their minds. We left Egypt for a reason, and the reason was to come home, unified as a people and make it happen here.”

Yom HaAliyah “is the one thing on the Knesset table that everybody agrees on,” said Jonathan Javor, director at TLV Internationals, the organization that initiated the idea of codifying Yom HaAliyah into Israeli law.

“It’s the one thing where we’ve got coalition and opposition, right and left, secular and religious, everybody’s supporting this  bill and it’s a wonderful thing to see,” he added, noting that the group hopes the legislation will be completed by the end of the Knesset’s summer session.