- published: 11 Mar 2013
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Rehovot (Hebrew: רְחוֹבוֹת) is a city in the Center District of Israel, about 20 km (12 mi) south of Tel Aviv. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 112,700. Rehovot's official website estimates the population at 114,000.
Rehovot was built on the site of Doron, a Jewish community that existed in the time of the Mishna. The site was also the location of Khirbet Duran, populated during the Roman, Byzantine and early Arab periods. The city is named after a biblical town of the same name (Rehoboth in the KJV Bible), which stood at a different location, in the Negev Desert.[citation needed]
Rehovot was founded in 1890, in the coastal plain relatively sparsely settled by Arabs, by Polish Jews who wanted a township independent of the Baron Edmond James de Rothschild's aid and management. Israel Belkind, one of the original founders of the settlement, 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 name was accepted. In 1908 they were joined by immigrants from Yemen, who settled in the city's Sha'arayim district. These early settlers planted vineyards, almond orchards and citrus groves. They withstood agricultural failures, plant diseases, and marketing problems.