Gordon, Judah Lob

(1831-92)

   Lithuanian Hebrew poet and writer. He was born in Vilna, and taught in various government schools in the Kovno province. Later he became critical of Jewish religious life. In 1872 he went to St Petersburg as secretary to the Jewish community and director of the Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews in Russia. Although his early poetry was romantic in character, his later work was full of disillusionment and despair. He is regarded as the creator of Hebrew realist poetry.