Rehovot
Rehovot
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| Hebrew transcription(s) | ||
| • ISO 259 | Rḥobot | |
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 Rehovot
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| Coordinates: 31°53′52.67″N 34°48′29.24″E / 31.8979639°N 34.8081222°ECoordinates: 31°53′52.67″N 34°48′29.24″E / 31.8979639°N 34.8081222°E | ||
| District | Central | |
| Founded | 1890 | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | City | |
| • Mayor | Rahamim Malul | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 23,041 dunams (23.041 km2 or 8.896 sq mi) | |
| Population (2015) | ||
| • Total | 132,671 | |
| Name meaning | Broad Places | |
| Website | www.rehovot.muni.il | |
Rehovot (Hebrew: רְחוֹבוֹת) is a city in the Central District of Israel, about 20 kilometers (12 mi) south of Tel Aviv. In 2015 it had a population of 132,671.
Rehovot was established in 1890 by Polish Jewish immigrants on land purchased from a Christian Arab.
Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot" (lit. 'wide expanses') based on Genesis 26:22: "And he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said: 'For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land'." The biblical town of Rehoboth is located in the Negev Desert.
Rehovot was established near a site called Khirbat Deiran, which now lies in the center of the built-up area of the city.
Excavations at Khirbat Deiran have revealed signs of habitation in the Hellenic and Roman periods and through the Byzantine period, with a major expansion to about 60 dunams during the early centuries of Islamic rule. Evidence of Jewish and possibly Samaritan occupants during the Roman and Byzantine periods has been found. In 1939, Khirbet Deiran was identified by Klein with Kerem Doron ("vineyard of Doron"), a place mentioned in Talmud Yerushalmi (Peah 7,4), but Fischer considers that there is "no special reason" for this identification, while Kalmin is unsure whether Doron was a place or a person.
The moshava of Rehovot was founded on the coastal plain by Polish Jews seeking to establish a township independent of the Baron Edmond James de Rothschild. The land was purchased by the Menuha Venahala society, an organization in Warsaw that raised funds for Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel.
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