Rehovot רחובות | |
|---|---|
| Hebrew transcription(s) | |
| • ISO 259 | Rḥovot |
 View of Rehovot | |
Nickname:
| |
  Rehovot  Rehovot | |
| Coordinates:31°53′49″N34°49′00″E / 31.89694°N 34.81667°E /31.89694; 34.81667 | |
| Country |  Israel |
| District | Central |
| Subdistrict | Rehovot |
| Founded | 1890; 135 years ago (1890) |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–council |
| • Body | Municipality of Rehovot |
| • Mayor | Matan Dil |
| Area | |
• Total | 23,041dunams (23.041 km2; 8.896 sq mi) |
| Population (2023)[1] | |
• Total | 153,416 |
| • Density | 6,658.4/km2 (17,245/sq mi) |
| Ethnicity | |
| • Jews and others | 99.7% |
| • Arabs | 0.3% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (IST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (IDT) |
| Name meaning | Broad Places[2] |
| Website | rehovot.muni.il |
Rehovot (Hebrew:רחובות,romanized: Reḥōvōt,pronounced[ʁeχoˈvot] /[ʁeˈχovot]) is a city in theCentral District ofIsrael, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south ofTel Aviv. In 2023 it had a population of 153,416.[1]
Israel Belkind, founder of theBilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot" (lit. 'wide expanses') based onGenesis 26:22: "And he called the name of itRehoboth; and he said: 'For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land'."[3] ThisBible verse is also inscribed in the city's logo. The biblical town ofRehoboth was located in theNegev Desert.[4]
Rehovot was established in 1890 by pioneers of theFirst Aliyah on the coastal plain near a site calledKhirbat Deiran, an "abandoned or sparsely populated" estate,[5] which now lies in the center of the built-up area of the city.[6][7] According to Marom, Deiran offered "a convenient launching pad for early land purchase initiatives which shaped the pattern of Jewish settlement until the beginning of the British Mandate".[5]
Rehovot was founded as amoshava in 1890 byPolish Jewish immigrants who had come with theFirst Aliyah, seeking to establish a township which would not be under the influence of the BaronEdmond James de Rothschild, on land which was purchased from aChristian Arab by the Menuha Venahala society, an organization in Warsaw that raised funds for Jewish settlement inEretz Israel.[3][8]
In March 1892, a dispute over pasture rights erupted between the residents of Rehovot and the neighboring village ofZarnuqa, which took two years to resolve. Another dispute broke out with the SuteriyaBedouin tribe, which had been cultivating some of the land as tenant farmers. According toMoshe Smilansky, one of the early settlers of Rehovot, the Bedouins had received compensation for the land, but refused to vacate it. In 1893, they attacked themoshava. Through the intervention of a respected Arab sheikh, a compromise was reached, with the Bedouins receiving an additional sum of money, which they used to dig a well.[9]
In 1890, the region was an uncultivated wasteland with no trees, houses or water.[10] The moshava's houses were initially built along two parallel streets: Yaakov Street and Benjamin Street, before later expanding, andvineyards,almondorchards andcitrusgroves were planted, but the inhabitants grappled with agricultural failures, plant diseases, and marketing problems.[citation needed]
The first citrus grove was planted by Zalman Minkov in 1904. Minkov's grove, surrounded by a wall, included a guard house, stables, a packing plant, and an irrigation system in which groundwater was pumped from a large well in the inner courtyard. The well was 23 meters deep, the height of an eight-story building, and over six meters in diameter. The water was channeled via an aqueduct to an irrigation pool, and from there to a network of ditches dug around the bases of the trees.[11]
The GreatSynagogue of Rehovot was established in 1903, during theFirst Aliyah period.[12]
In 1908, the Workman's Union (Hapoel Hazair) organized a group of 300Yemenite immigrants then living in the region of Jerusalem and Jaffa, bringing them to work as farmers in the colonies of Rishon-le-Zion and Rehovot.[13] Only a few dozenYemenite families had settled in Rehovot by 1908.[14] They built houses for themselves in a plot given to them at the south end of the town, which became known as Sha'araim.[14] In 1910, Shmuel Warshawsky, with the secret support of theJNF, was sent to Yemen to recruit more agricultural laborers.[14] Hundreds arrived starting in 1911 and were housed first in a compound one kilometre south of Rehovot and then in a large extension of the Sha'araim quarter.[14]
The second Zarnuqa incident, that took place in July 1913[15] between the colonists and guards of Rehovot, and the Arab rural population, is considered by historians as a milestone in Zionist–Arab relations in late Ottoman Palestine. The incident, which started over simple accusation of theft of grapes from a Jewish-owned vineyard, became much more than a local incident, left one Arab and two Jews dead and resulted in tremendous hostility between the two sides. There are various narratives available to researchers today, including Jewish, Arabic sources and external sources. It is difficult to determine whose narrative is closer to historical reality, or to find out who started the fight and who is to be blamed. This incident illustrates the difficult task facing historians in analyzing the late Ottoman Palestine, the period of the early Zionist–Arab encounter and conflict.[16] It is alleged that this was the moment when a previously peaceful co-existence among Jews and Arabs, united under the Ottoman Empire, instantly became an "us vs. them" divisiveness that has prevailed ever since.[17]
In February 1914,Rothschild visited Rehovot during the fourth of his five visits to the Land of Israel.[18] That year, Rehovot had a population of around 955.
In 1920, theRehovot Railway Station was opened, which greatly boosted the local citrus fruit industry. A few packing houses were built near the station to enable the fruit to be sent by railway to the rest of the country and to the port ofJaffa for export to Europe. According to acensus conducted in 1922 by theBritish Mandate authorities, Rehovot had a population of 1,242 inhabitants, consisting of 1,241 Jews and 1 Muslim,[19] increasing in 1931census to 3,193 inhabitants, in 833 houses.[20]In 1924, theBritish Army contracted thePalestine Electric Company for wired electric power. The contract allowed the Electric Company to extend the grid beyond the original geographical limits that had been projected by the concession it was given. The high-voltage line that exceeded the limits of the original concession ran along some major towns and agricultural settlements, offering extended connections to the Jewish towns ofRishon Le-Zion,Ness Ziona and Rehovot (in spite of their proximity to the high-voltage line, the Arab towns ofRamla andLod remained unconnected).[21]
In 1931, the first workersmoshav,Kfar Marmorek, was built on lands which were acquired from the village ofZarnuqa by theJewish National Fund in 1926, and tenYemenite Jewish families which were evicted fromKinneret were resettled there. Later, they were joined by thirty-five other families from Sha'araim. Today, they are both suburbs of Rehovot.[22]
The agricultural research station that opened in Rehovot in 1932 later became the Department of Agriculture of theHebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1933, a juice factory was built. In 1934,Chaim Weizmann established the Sieff Institute, which later became theWeizmann Institute of Science. In 1937, Weizmann built his home on the land purchased adjacent to the Sieff Institute. The house later served as the presidential residence after Weizmann became president in 1948. Weizmann and his wife are buried on the grounds of the institute.
In 1945, Rehovot had a population of 10,020, and in 1948, it had grown to 12,500. The suburb of Rehovot,Kefar Marmorek, had a population of 500 Jews in 1948.[23]
On 29 February 1948, theLehiblew up the Cairo to Haifa train shortly after it left Rehovot, killing 29 British soldiers and injuring 35. Lehi said the bombing was in retaliation for theBen Yehuda Street bombing a week earlier.The Scotsman reported that both Weizmann's home and the Agricultural Institute were damaged in the explosion, although the sites were 1–2 miles [1.6–3.2 km] away. On 28 March 1948, Arabs attacked a Jewish convoy near Rehovot.[24] In 1950, Rehovot, which had a population of about 18,000, was declared a city.
In the immediate years following the establishment ofIsrael, theZarnuqama'abara (now namedKiryat Moshe) was established on the Southern side of Rehovot to house Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe andArab lands.[25] On the Southwest, the neighborhood ofKfar Gevirol (now namedIbn Gevirol, named afterSolomon ibn Gabirol, 11th Century Sephardi Jewish Philosopher) was founded on lands of the depopulated Palestinian village ofAl-Qubayba.[26] Over the years,Kiryat Moshe expanded over the lands of the depopulated Palestinian village ofZarnuqa. The mosque of the village, while abandoned, still stands.[27] On the Southeast the neighborhood of Ramat Aharon were established. The city has since then expanded in all directions, geographically surrounding but not including the Kibbutz ofKvutzat Shiller and the Moshav ofGibton.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1914 | 955 | — |
| 1922 | 1,242[19] | +30.1% |
| 1931 | 3,193[28] | +157.1% |
| 1948 | 12,500 | +291.5% |
| 1955 | 26,000 | +108.0% |
| 1961 | 29,000 | +11.5% |
| 1972 | 39,300 | +35.5% |
| 1983 | 67,900 | +72.8% |
| 1995 | 85,200 | +25.5% |
| 2008 | 111,100 | +30.4% |
| 20151 | 132,700 | +19.4% |
| 2019 | 143,904 | +8.4% |
| 2022 | 152,084 | +5.7% |
| Source:Israel Central Bureau of Statistics 1 end of year estimate | ||
Between 1914 and 1991, the town's population rose from 955 to 81,000, and its area more than doubled. Parts of Rehovot's suburbs are built on land that belonged to the village ofZarnuqa before 1948, population 2,620, including 240 Jews inGibton.[29] In 1995, there were 337,800 people living in the greater Rehovot area. As of 2007[update], the ethnic makeup of the city was 99.8%Jewish. There were 49,600 males and 52,300 females, of whom 31.6% were 19 years of age or younger, 16.1% between the ages of 20 and 29, 18.2% between 30 and 44, 18.2% from 45 to 59, 3.5% from 60 to 64, and 12.3% 65 years of age or older. The population growth rate was 1.8%.[30]
In Rehovot, there are mainlyRussian Jews,Yemenite Jews, andEthiopian Jews, who are concentrated largely in the Kiryat Moshe and Oshiot areas. There is a growing community of religiousAnglo-speaking people who primarily live in Northern Rehovot around theWeizmann Institute of Science.
According to the 2019 census, the population of Rehovot was counted to be 143,904, of which 143,536 people, comprising 99.7% of the city's population were classified as "Jews and Others", and 368 people, comprising 0.3% as "Arab".[1]
The city is home to theWeizmann Institute of Science,The Robert H Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment [he] of theHebrew University of Jerusalem, and thePeres Academic Center College. There are also several smaller colleges in Rehovot that provide specialized and technical training.Kaplan Medical Center acts as an ancillary teaching hospital for the Medical School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The Minkov Orchard Museum was established in Rehovot with the assistance of the Swiss descendants of Zalma Minkov, whose husband planted the city's first citrus grove.[11]
Rehovot is also home to the annualRehovot International Live Statues Festival which includes many international participants.[31]
As of 2004[update], there were 41,323 salaried workers and 2,683 self-employed. The mean monthly wage for a salaried worker wasILS 6,732, a real change of −5.2% over the course of the previous year. Salaried males had a mean monthly wage of ILS 8,786 (a real change of −4.8%) versus ILS 4,791 for females (a real change of −5.3%). The mean income for the self-employed was 6,806. There were 1,082 people receiving unemployment benefits and 6,627 people receiving an income guarantee.[30] In 2013, Rehovot had the highest average net monthly income among households in Israel, at NIS 16,800.[32]
Rehovot is home to numerous industrial plants, and has an industrial park in the western part of the city. Among them are theTnuva dairy plant, the Yafora-Tavori beverage factory, and the Feldman ice cream factory.
The Tamar Science Park, established in 2000, is a high-tech park of 1,000 dunams (1.0 km2) at the northern entrance of the city.[33] The Tamar Science Park adjoins the older Kiryat Weizmann industrial park. Although the entire extended science park is largely conceived as an area of Rehovot, the Kiryat Weizmann part is actually under the municipal boundaries of neighboring Ness Ziona. Tamar Science Park is home to branches of leading hi-tech likeStratasys,Imperva,Applied Materials,El-Op and bio-tech companies likeAleph Farms.
During the 1980s, some local swimmers excelled, thanks to the local Weissgal Center Water Park.
Rehovot has had three clubs representing it the top division of Israeli football:Maccabi Rehovot between 1949 and 1956,Maccabi Sha'arayim between 1963 and 1969 and again in 1985, andHapoel Marmorek in the1972–73 season. It also has clubBnei Yeechalal which plays atLiga Bet South B.
Today Maccabi Sha'arayim and Marmorek play inLiga Alef South, the third level; Maccabi Rehovot andBnei Yeechalal play inLiga Gimel, the fifth and lowest division.
List of Rehovot men's football clubs playing at state level and above for the 2023–24 season:
| Club | Founded | League | Level | Home Ground | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maccabi Rehovot | 1912 | Liga Gimel Central | 5 | Kiryat Moshe | 500 |
| Hapoel Marmorek | 1949 | Liga Alef South | 3 | Itztoni Stadium | 800 |
| Maccabi Sha'arayim | 1950 | Liga Alef South | 3 | Maccabi Sha'araim Stadium | 500 |
| Bnei Yeechalal | 2007 | Liga Gimel Central | 5 | Kiryat Moshe | 500 |
Rehovot has one basketball clubMaccabi Rehovot B.C. The team plays in theLiga Leumit.
Rehovot has one handball clubMaccabi Rehovot. The team plays in theLigat Ha'Al.
Rehovot railway station is a suburban commuter railway station serving the city. It is a historic station that was abandoned in 1948 and reopened in 1990 with a suburban service toTel Aviv, which is important because many Rehovot residents work in Tel Aviv. More reconstruction work began in 2000, which included the two new passenger terminals, a pedestrian tunnel under the railway, a bus terminal and two large parking lots. The station is situated on the Tel Aviv suburban line (Binyamina/Netanya – Tel Aviv – Rehovot/Ashkelon Suburban Service). All trains in this service stop at Rehovot, and some trains terminate at the station. This line connects the city toTel Aviv viaLod.
The city will be served by 5 Metro Stations along one of the Southern Branches of Line M1 as part of theTel Aviv Metro Project. This line will connect the city toTel Aviv viaHolon.
The city is served internally and connected to other cities by bus routes operated byEgged Bus Company.
Rehovot is located betweenHighway 40 andHighway 42. Highway 40 connects the city toKiryat Gat andBeersheva in the South, while Highway 42 connects it toAshdod. Highway 40 connects the city toLod-Ramla to the North, also providing connection toBen Gurion Airport, and bypassingMetro Tel Aviv along the eastern edge, whereas Highway 42 connects the city toRishon LeZion and the urban centre ofMetro Tel Aviv.
Rehovot also has access to the east–westMotorway 431, connecting the city toModi'in as well as toJerusalem on the East.
Route 412 (Weizmann Street) is a regional road that goes through the city centre in a Northwest-Southeast Direction, and connects it to neighbouringNess Ziona.
Rehovot istwinned with:
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![Tel Shalaf (Eltekeh) biblical city remains in Rehovot[41]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aTell_Shalaf%2c_Shfela%2c_Israel_%25D7%25AA%25D7%259C_%25D7%25A9%25D7%259C%25D7%25A3%2c_%25D7%25A9%25D7%25A4%25D7%259C%25D7%25AA_%25D7%2599%25D7%2594%25D7%2595%25D7%2593%25D7%2594_-_panoramio_(2).jpg)
For more information see:Category:People from Rehovot
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