Photos of the Week: Persian New Year, Israeli rabbi funerals

By Kit Doyle · March 25, 2022

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes Persian New Year celebrations and large funerals for Israeli rabbis. Men raise an Islamic flag during celebrations of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, as Taliban soldiers stand guard at the Kart-e-Sakhi shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, March 21, 2022. Nowruz is an ancient Persian festival celebrated on the first day of spring in many countries, including Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. (AP Photos/Mohammed Shoaib Amin) Kashmiri Shiite Muslim women pray at the shrine of Peer Syed Mehndi during the Persian New Year, in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Kashmiri Shiite Muslims walk outside the shrine of Peer Syed Mehndi during the Persian New Year, in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Parsi women walk next to a bas-relief depicting early Zoroastrians at a Parsi colony on Nowruz, the Parsi New Year, in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 21, 2022. Parsis, also known as Zoroastrians, worship fire and are followers of the Bronze Age Persian prophet Zarathustra. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) Pope Francis, bottom left, presides over a special prayer in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, March 25, 2022. Francis presided over a special prayer for Ukraine that harkens back to a century-old apocalyptic prophesy about peace and Russia that was sparked by purported visions of the Virgin Mary to three peasant children in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, center, speaks at the start of a two-day gathering of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, at the Parliament House in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Khan urged foreign ministers from Muslim-majority nations to help end Russia's war in Ukraine, appealing also to China's foreign minister Wang Yi, who attended for the first time as a special guest, to join the effort. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) Pakistan Air Force jets demonstrate an aerobatic performance during a military parade to mark Pakistan National Day in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Pakistanis celebrated with a military parade in the capital, Islamabad, showcasing this Islamic nation's elite army units and high-tech weaponry, including short, medium, and long-range missiles, tanks, fighter jets and other hardware. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed) Hundreds of thousands of people attend the funeral of prominent ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky in Bnei Brak, Israel Sunday, March 20, 2022. Kanievsky was one of the most influential scholars in the religious community in Israel. He died at the age of 94. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) Ultra-Orthodox Jews attend the funeral of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky in Bnei Brak, Israel Sunday, March 20, 2022. Kanievsky was one of the most influential scholars in the religious community in Israel. He died at the age of 94. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Ultra-Orthodox Jews attend the funeral of Rabbi Moshe Kravitzky, 50, in Beersheba, southern Israel, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Kravitzky was among four people killed Tuesday in a car ramming and stabbing attack by a Bedouin Arab citizen of Israel in Beersheba. Officials called the incident a terror attack with nationalist motives. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Related Stories

Photos of the Week: U.S. mass shootings; Hawaiian volcano

By Kit Doyle

Photos of the Week: Thanksgiving; Cardinal Zen verdict

By Kit Doyle

Photos of the Week: Bolivian drought; Rohingya refugees

By Kit Doyle

Photos of the Week: All Saints Day; Hindu Sun god

By Kit Doyle

Photos of the Week: Pittsburgh anniversary; Diwali celebrations

By Kit Doyle