They went so far as to discard Judaism altogether and
improvise religions of their own. Moses Rosensohn of Vilna was the
first, in his works _Advice and Help_ (_'Ezrah we-Tushiah_, Vilna, 1870)
and _The Peace of Brothers_ (_Shelom Ahim_, ibid.), to suggest a way to
cosmopolitanism and universalism through Judaism.[19] In 1879, Jacob
Gordin founded in Yelisavetgrad a sort of ethical culture society called
Bibleitsy (also Dukhovnoye Bibleyskoye Bratstvo, Spiritual Bible
Brotherhood), which obtained a considerable following among the workmen
of the section. It advocated the abolition of ritual observances, even
prayer, and the hastening of the era of the brotherhood of man. It
preached, in the words of one of its leaders, that "our morality is our
religion. God, the acme of highest reason, of surest truth, and of the
most sublime justice, does not demand useless external forms and
ceremonies."[20] Following the organization of the Bibleitsy, and based
on almost the same principles, branches of a Jewish sect, which called
itself New Israel (Novy Izrail), were started almost simultaneously in
Odessa and Kishinev.
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