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people and labor
aaron david gordon, 1911
“We lack the principal ingredient for national life. We lack the habit of labor...”
Aaron David Gordon, the spiritual leader of Labor Zionism, believed that Jews were lacking a deep connection to nature, focusing solely instead on intellectual pursuits. This harmed their ability to fully develop a national culture with ties to the actual land of the home they were trying to build in Palestine. In his 1911 essay People and Labor, AD Gordon declared that what the Jews were seeking in Palestine was “a culture of life…a new spirit for our national renaissance.” Essential to that, he insisted, were Jews committed to performing “the habit of labor” as the key element for having a healthy life and healthy relationships.
