Aharon David Gordon - Aliyah

Gordon was an early member of the Hibbat Zion movement and made aliyah to Ottoman Palestine in 1904, when he was 48. His wife and daughter immigrated with him, but his son refused to accompany him because of differences in their religious outlooks. Four months after he 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.