Rishon LeZion (Hebrew: רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן‎ (audio) (help·info), lit. First to Zion), is the fourth-largest city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area.

The city had a population of 224,300 at the end of 2007. Founded in 1882 by Russian Jewish immigrants, it was the second Jewish farm colony established in Palestine in the 19th century, after Petah Tikva. The name Rishon LeZion is derived from a biblical verse: "First to Zion are they, and I shall give herald to Jerusalem" (Hebrew: ראשון לציון הנה הינם, ולירושלים מבשר אתן‎) (Book of Isaiah 41:27) and literally translates as the First to Zion.

Rishon LeZion was founded on July 31, 1882 by ten Hovevei Zion pioneers from Kharkov, Ukraine (then the Russian Empire) headed by Zalman David Levontin. Reuven Yudalevich was also a member of the group. The pioneers purchased 835 acres (3.4 km²) of land southeast of present-day Tel Aviv, near the Arab village of Ayun Kara.

The founders faced numerous difficulties. The soil was sandy, water was scarce and the settlers had no agricultural experience. After a well was dug and more pioneers arrived - the Biluim - the colony slowly took shape.

Notable members of this group include Fani Belkind, Israel Belkind, Shimshon Belkind, Yoel Drubin, Dr. Haim Hissin, and David Yudilovich. When Baron Edmond James de Rothschild took over, sending in his administrators, major progress was made in the spheres of agriculture, citrus and viticulture.

Under Rothschild's patronage, the Carmel-Mizrahi Winery was established in 1886. David Ben-Gurion was head of workers' union at the winery before later becoming Israel's first prime minister. The first Hebrew school in the country opened in Rishon Lezion in 1889.

Dov Lubman Haviv taught there and Mordechai Lubman Haviv was an educational inspector. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, known as the father of modern Hebrew, was a teacher in Rishon LeZion.

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