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Modern GeographyRehovot

The name "Rehovot" first appears in the Bible, as the name of one of the wells dug by the patriarch Isaac (Gensis 26). The name means "wide open," and it was a reference to the expanse of land God gave to Isaac, which would allow the people to be fruitful in the land. The modern town of Rehovot took its name from this Biblical place, though the ancient Rehovot was in the Negev, while modern-day Rehovot is on the coast, south of Tel Aviv.

The modern town was built on the site of an ancient, Mishna-era town, which had also been populated during the Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic periods. In 1890, a group of Jews from Warsaw, Poland decided to purchase a block of land which would be free from the aid and dictates of the philanthropists, specifically Baron Edmond de Rothschild. In the spring of 1890, the contract for the land was signed, and by the summer, the Polish Jews had taken possession of the land. Until that point, the land was sparsely populated, with only a few Arabs living in villages. Rehovot gained a reputation as being a democratic, friendly, and organized community. The Polish olim were soon joined by a group of Yemenite immigrants in 1908, and these early settlers farmed the land, growing vineyards, almond orchards, and citrus groves. Despite agricultural setbacks and attacks from the local Arabs, the settlers did not abandon the town, and continued to work through the difficulties. Many of the early settlers in Rehovot went on to establish kibbutzim and communities throughout the land. From 1921 - 1933, the vineyards of Rehovot supplied the winery in Rishon L'Tzion with grapes. They founded the "Carmel" label to market the wines, and today, the "Carmel Mizrahi" label is still active.

In 1932, an agricultural research station opened, which later became the Department of Agriculture for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1934, Chaim Weizmann, a scientist who became Israel's first president, opened up a science institute in Rehovot, called the Sieff Institute. Later, it was named after him—the Weizmann Institute of Science, and both Weizmann and his wife are buried on the grounds.

During the years of the British Mandate, the citizens of Rehovot made significant contributions to the security of the land. Many were members of the various military organizations, such as the Haganah and the Lehi. Residents helped obtain and hide caches of weapons and artillery, which they handed over to the fighting forces during the 1948 War, and scientists at the Sieff Institute were instrumental to the country's security and defense. The Ayalon Institute, located nearby, was a secret ammunitions factory built during the British Mandate. It was disguised as a kibbutz in order to conceal its true purpose from the British. The factory was dug underground, and in the large chamber, the settlers worked feverishly to produce the specific bullets needed for the submachine guns. Today, the Ayalon Institute is open to tourists, who can tour the underground bunker.

In February 1948, as tensions over the UN Partition Plan continued to escalate, Arabs drove three British armored trucks into Ben-Yehuda Street, in Jerusalem, and detonated them. Over fifty Jewish civilians were killed, and more than 100 injured. A week later, on February 29, the Irgun blew up the train running from Cairo to Haifa, just after it left the Rehovot station. Twenty-nine British soldiers were killed, another thirty-five injured, and approximately 100 civilians were injured.

Today, Rehovot is known as a "City of Citrus, Culture, and Science." Citrus production continues to be a large part of Rehovot's economy, as it was over 100 years ago. The Weizmann Institute offers graduate and post-graduate degrees in the sciences, and is one of the most renowned science institutes in the world. The symbol for the city, appropriately, contains a book, a microscope, and an orange.