Alongside government and capitalism, this counterculture took aim at religion as incompatible with their principles of reason and science, though they retained their secular Yiddish culture.
[1] Among the radicals' provocations was the Yom Kippur ball, a joyous event sacrilegiously held during the somber Jewish day of atonement.
The festivities included singing, dancing, readings in Yiddish, Russian, and German, and orations from Johann Most, Saul Yanovsky, and Roman Lewis.
In New England, Moshe Katz gave a Kol Nidre sermon on religion's evolution, and in Philadelphia, a police raid on the event led to two arrests for incitation to riot.
[2] Historian of anarchism Paul Avrich concluded that the balls were "counterproductive", estranging both devout Jews and those who viewed the festivities as a caustic attack on their traditions.