Aaron David Gordon
| Aaron David Gordon | |
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| Born | June 9, 1856 Troyanov, near Zhytomyr, Russian Empire |
| Died | February 22, 1922 (aged 65) Degania Alef, Mandate Palestine |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Existential philosophy, Labor Zionism |
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Main interests
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Ethics, epistemology, Jewish philosophy |
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Notable ideas
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Direct Experience (Hebrew: חוויה, Chavaya) vs Consciousness |
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Influences
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Influenced
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Aaron David Gordon (Hebrew: אהרן דוד גורדון; 9 June 1856 – 22 February 1922), more commonly known as A. D. Gordon, was a Zionist ideologue and the spiritual force behind practical Zionism and Labor Zionism. He founded Hapoel Hatzair, a movement that set the tone for the Zionist movement for many years to come. Influenced by Leo Tolstoy and others, it is said that in effect he made a religion of labor. However, he himself wrote in 1920, "Surely in our day it is possible to live without religion."
Gordon was the only child of a well-to-do family of Orthodox Jews. He was self-educated in both religious and general studies, and spoke several languages. For thirty years, he managed an estate, where he proved to be a charismatic educator and community activist. Gordon married his cousin, Faige Tartakov, at a young age and had seven children with her, though only two of them survived.
Gordon was an early member of the Hibbat Zion movement and made aliyah to Ottoman Palestine in 1904, when he was 48, after being persuaded by his wife not to emigrate to America. His daughter Yael followed him in 1908 and his wife about a year later, but his son stayed behind to continue his religious studies – he seems to have refused to accompany his father because of differences in their religious outlooks. Four months after she arrived in the country, his wife became ill and died. Gordon lived in Petah Tikva and Rishon LeZion, before finally settling in the Galilee in 1919. He lived simply and supported himself as a hired agricultural hand, while writing his emerging philosophy at night. Although he participated in the Zionist Congress of 1911, Gordon refused to become involved in any of the Zionist political parties, out of principle.
Gordon believed that all of Jewish suffering could be traced to the parasitic state of Jews in the Diaspora, who were unable to participate in creative labor. To remedy this, he sought to promote physical labor and agriculture as a means of uplifting Jews spiritually. It was the experience of labor, he believed, that linked the individual to the hidden aspects of nature and being, which, in turn were the source of vision, poetry, and the spiritual life. Furthermore, he also believed that working the land was a sacred task, not only for the individual but for the entire Jewish people. Agriculture would unite the people with the land and justify its continued existence there. In his own words: "The Land of Israel is acquired through labor, not through fire and not through blood." Return to the soil would transform the Jewish people and allow its rejuvenation, according to his philosophy. A.D. Gordon elaborated on these themes, writing:
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