Aaron David Gordon

Aaron David Gordon (1856 - 1922), popularly known as A D Gordon in short, was a Russian author and philosopher who is said to have made a religion of labour. He was a Labour Zionist thinker and the spiritual force behind practical Zionism and Labor Zionism. He founded the Hapoel Hatzair movement that set the tone for the Zionist movement for many years to come.

Wisdom & Quotes

• A false idea is not only one which is absolutely subjective but one which is absolutely objective.
• Does any man exist whose ideals, tastes, attitudes are so absolutely valid that he has the right to impose them upon others? Does there exist anywhere a type of man, or nation, that dares impose itself as a model to all men?
• When a man says, 'One must,' he should first of all say, 'I must.' Only then can he say, 'You must,' and 'He must!'
• The soul should be examined in the light of other souls.
• The soul of the slave, the soul of the 'little man,' is as dear to me as the soul of the great.
• We must put work in the center of our aspirations; we must build all our edifices on this foundation. If work becomes our ideal, or, rather, if we bring the ideal of work into functioning, we shall be cured of the plague that has seized us, we shall be able to bridge the gap between us and nature.

Jose Celso Barbosa