Jordan Valley at Gilgal, which went dry as soon as the Ark of the Covenant reached the shore (). Yom HaAliyah (Aliyah Day, ) is an Israeli national holiday celebrated annually on the tenth of the Hebrew month of Nisan to commemorate the Israelites crossing the Jordan River into the Land of Israel while carrying the Ark of the Covenant. The Jordan River is revered by Christians as the place where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Jesus' traditional baptism site has attracted pilgrims throughout history. During the last four decades pilgrimage facilities have been created at three different sites. With Al Maghtas
Historical Jesus of Roman authority. The existence of John the Baptist within the same time frame as Jesus, and his eventual execution by Herod Antipas is attested to by 1st-century historian Josephus and the overwhelming majority of modern scholars view Josephus' accounts of the activities of John the Baptist as authentic. One of the arguments in favor of the historicity of the Baptism of Jesus by John is the criterion of embarrassment, i.e. that it is a story which the early Christian Church would have never wanted to invent. Another argument used in favour of the historicity of the baptism is that