Objects

Medal of the Zionist colony Rishon LeZion. The colony was founded on 31 July 1882 by Jewish pioneers from the Hovevei Zion organisation in Kharkiv. Rishon LeZion was the second contemporary settlement established in Palestine after Petah Tikva. The exact date of the medal's creation is unknown, but it was likely issued after the establishment of the colony to commemorate a special occasion (such as the construction of the first synagogue in 1889 or the anniversary of the settlement's foundation). The obverse of the medal features a Hebrew inscription in the border: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning," along with a fragment of Psalm 14: "Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!" In the central part, the Star of David is depicted above the Tablets of Law, with an image of a sower on one side and a woman on the other. The reverse side shows a panorama of the Rishon LeZion colony, along with a fragment from the Book of Isaiah 41:27 in the rim: "I am the first to say to Zion, ‘Behold, look at them;’ and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem." Beneath the depiction of the colony is the date in Hebrew 5642, which is 1882.