Petah Tikva

Petah Tikva (Hebrew: פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, IPA: [ˈpetaχ tikˈva], "Opening of Hope"; Arabic: بتاح تكفا‎) known as Em HaMoshavot ("Mother of the Moshavot"), is a city in the Central District of Israel, 10.6 km (6.59 mi) east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by religious orthodox Jews, also known as the Old Yishuv, and became a permanent settlement in 1883 with the financial help of Baron Edmond de Rothschild.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2014, the city's population stood at 225,356. The population density is approximately 6,277 inhabitants per square kilometre (16,260/sq mi). Petah Tikva's jurisdiction covers 35,868 dunams (~35.9 km² or 15 sq mi).

Etymology

The name of Petah Tikva was chosen by its founders in 1878 from the prophecy of Hosea (2:15, 2:17 Jewish), "And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the Valley of Achor for an opening of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."