ISRAEL-PURIM-RELIGION

ISRAEL-PURIM-RELIGION

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men celebrate the Purim holiday in the ultra-orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem on March 17, 2014. The carnival-like Purim holiday is celebrated with parades and costume parties and drinking wine to commemorate the deliverance of the Jewish people from a plot to exterminate them in the ancient Persian empire 2,500 years ago, as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther. AFP PHOTO / THOMAS COEX