Yom Kippur preparations

Ultra-orthodox Jewish men perform the Kaparot ceremony in the costal city of Ashdod in line with the Jewish tradition of transferring the sins of the past year to the chicken before the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur Photograph: David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images

Ultra-orthodox Jews in Ashdod Photograph: David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images

Ultra-orthodox Jews in Ashdod Photograph: David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images

Ultra-orthodox Jews pray in front of a plastic pool filled with water and live fish in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, as they perform the 'Tashlich' ritual during which they cast their sins into the water Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

Menachem Mendel Taub, a prominent Hasidic rabbi, right, throws a piece of bread into the water during a Tashlich at the botanic gardens in Jerusalem Photograph: Dan Balilty/AP

Worshippers pray at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, ahead of Yom Kippur in Jerusalem's Old City Photograph: Darren Whiteside/Reuters

Ultra-orthodox Jews perform the kaparot ceremony in Ashdod, Israel Photograph: David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images

An ultra-Orthodox Jew whips a fellow believer with a leather belt as a symbolic punishment for his sins during the traditional malkot ceremony for Yom Kippur in the central Israeli town of Bet Shemesh Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood of Jerusalem on 15 September 2010 as they twirl chickens over their heads and recite prayers during the Kaparot ritual before the start of Yom Kippur Photograph: Miriam Alster/EPA

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men recite prayers and hold a chicken for the Kaparot ritual in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood of Jerusalem Photograph: Nati Shohat/EPA

Ultra-Orthodox Jews at noon prayers in the central Israeli town of Bet Shemesh Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images