Municipality of Rishon le-Zion (Israel)

Iriyat Rishon le-Zion

Last modified: 2004-12-29 by santiago dotor
Keywords: rishon le-zion | iriyat rishon le-zion | text: hebrew (orange) | coat of arms (landscape: green) | coat of arms (well) | coat of arms (industrial plant) |
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by Dov Gutterman | 2:3 Coat-of-arms adopted 30th May 1991

• Description

See also:

• Municipal Flags (Israel)
• Israel

Rishon le-Zion (meaning first of Zion) is situated in the seashore plain south of Tel-Aviv. Its name comes from the Bible (Isaiah 41:27) and to commemorate being the first settlement established by a Zionist association in 1882 — even though it is not the first new-era settlement, being preceded by Petakh-Tiqva in 1878. With a population of 185,000 it became the 4th most populated city in Israel (after Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv and Haifa). It is a municipality since 1950.

Its emblem was designed for its 60th anniversary and shows its main past agricultural branches —vine and grapes for the grapes and wine industry, citrus for the oranges, and furrows— as well as industrial plants. It also shows the first well, with the inner inscription we found water. The unofficial flag is orange with the emblem. Sources: author's own observation and the city website.

The municipal emblem was published in the official gazette (Rashumot), 'Publications Gazette' section (Yalkut ha'Pirsumim), YP 3882, 30 May 1991. It replaced the previous emblem, published YP 633, 13 November 1958.

Dov Gutterman, 1-4 September 2001

I received a letter from the municipality as follows (my translation, remarks in brackets):

1) When Rishon le-Zion's 60th anniversary was approching, the local council decided to order an emblem for the colony which will give prominence to its beginning, development and its multicoloured.

2) The emblem which was chosen describes the first well and emphasizes the cry "we found water" [written on the inner scroll] coming out from the diggers' mouths when water was discovered. Around the well there is a vine's tendril, which was the main product of the farmers, a citrus tree with its golden fruits and, in the background, industrial buildings with smoke rising from their chimneys.

3) In the centre of the orange flag, a green emblem was charged.(...)