Founding of Rishon LeZion

Rishon LeZion was founded on 31 July 1882 by ten pioneers of Hovevei Zion from the Russian Empire, led by Zalman David Levontin, who bought some 3,300 dunams of the land of Uyun Qara southeast of Jaffa. Its name, "First to Zion", comes from Isaiah 41:27. The settlers soon ran short of water and money, and BILU members who joined them struggled with them; in 1883 Baron Edmond de Rothschild took the moshava under his protection, financing a deep well and planting vineyards.

Rishon LeZion saw many firsts of the new Yishuv: one of the first schools teaching in Hebrew, the blue-and-white flag raised for its third anniversary in 1885, the melody of Hatikvah set by Samuel Cohen in 1888, and the great wine cellars of 1890. It became a model for the moshavot of the First Aliyah and is today one of Israel's largest cities.