Israel prepares for Yom Kippur - in pictures

  • Women take part in a Tashlich ceremony, where they wrote down things they want to release before casting them into a fire, on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel.
    Women take part in a Tashlich ceremony, where they wrote down things they want to release before casting them into a fire, on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel.
  • A woman holds a shofar before the start of a Tashlich ceremony, on the beach in Tel Aviv. AP
    A woman holds a shofar before the start of a Tashlich ceremony, on the beach in Tel Aviv. AP
  • Tashlich, which means 'to cast away' in Hebrew, is the practice by which Jews go to a large flowing body of water and symbolically 'throw away' their sins by throwing a piece of bread, or similar food, into the water before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. AP
    Tashlich, which means 'to cast away' in Hebrew, is the practice by which Jews go to a large flowing body of water and symbolically 'throw away' their sins by throwing a piece of bread, or similar food, into the water before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. AP
  • A man pushes a cart loaded with bread at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur - the Jewish Day of Atonement - the most important day in the Jewish calendar. AFP
    A man pushes a cart loaded with bread at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur - the Jewish Day of Atonement - the most important day in the Jewish calendar. AFP
  • A Jewish woman prays as she takes part in the Tashlich ritual on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv before Yom Kippur, which starts on Wednesday at sundown. Reuters
    A Jewish woman prays as she takes part in the Tashlich ritual on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv before Yom Kippur, which starts on Wednesday at sundown. Reuters
  • An ultra-Orthodox Jewish family pray in front of a fish aquarium at a zoo in the ultra-Orthodox Israeli city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv, as they perform the Tashlich ritual during which 'sins are cast into the water to the fish'. AFP
    An ultra-Orthodox Jewish family pray in front of a fish aquarium at a zoo in the ultra-Orthodox Israeli city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv, as they perform the Tashlich ritual during which 'sins are cast into the water to the fish'. AFP
  • Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and children perform the Tashlich ritual in the coastal city of Netanya before the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, the most important day in the Jewish calendar, which this year starts at sunset on September 15. AFP
    Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and children perform the Tashlich ritual in the coastal city of Netanya before the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, the most important day in the Jewish calendar, which this year starts at sunset on September 15. AFP
  • Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and children perform the Tashlich ritual in the coastal city of Netanya. AFP
    Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and children perform the Tashlich ritual in the coastal city of Netanya. AFP