Abstract
The following study confronts a current wave of Israeli historiography seeking to separate myth from reality in halutz ethos during the second and third aliyot. While leading historians argue for a political and social desacralization of this spiritually rich era, I insist on the legitimacy and sincerity of religious and mystical language ubiquitous in pioneer writing and practice. Using Aaron David Gordon as a paradigm of this movement, I propose an analysis of Israeli pioneer history free from metaphor, where the Land of Israel becomes the focal point of a newly interpreted religiosity.