Photos of the Week

This week’s photo selection includes coronavirus surges in Ultra-Orthodox Israeli communities, a music project lasting more than 600 years, and more.

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo selection includes coronavirus surges in Ultra-Orthodox Israeli communities, a music project lasting more than 600 years, and more.

Masked exile Tibetan Buddhist nuns circumambulate the residence of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in Dharmsala, India, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)


Organist Julian Lembke, center, changes a pipe on the organ of the John Cage organ project during a ‘chord change’ at the partially ruined Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020. The performance of the “ORGAN/ASLSP,” or As Slow As Possible, composition by John Cage began in September 2001 at the church and is supposed to end in 2640. The last chord change was in 2013. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Supporters of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, an Islamist political party, chant slogans during a rally to condemn the French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo for republishing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, in Lahore, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

A commercial building destroyed by wildfire frames the damaged Congregational Community Church on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, in Malden, Washington. (AP Photo/Jed Conklin)

With Vietnam Moratorium Day under way, a “Stop War” message takes shape in large sky-written letters above New York’s Shea Stadium during the fourth game of the World Series between the New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles on Oct. 15, 1969. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society

Ultra-Orthodox Jews socially distance and wear face masks during morning prayer next to their houses, as synagogues are limited to 20 people by the Israeli government to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, Sept 8, 2020. Israel is struggling to contain an outbreak that has claimed more than 1,000 lives and remains at record levels of new infections. Cities with large ultra-Orthodox Jewish populations, like Bnei Brak, have been among the hardest hit. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish children wear face masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus as they gather in Bnei Brak, Israel, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020. The death toll from the coronavirus in Israel has surpassed 1,000, as the government considers steps for imposing new restrictions to quell a resurgence in infections. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A nun waits for Pope Francis’ weekly general audience in the San Damaso courtyard at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)


Ethnic Rohingya people rest after the boat carrying them landed in Lhokseumawe, Aceh province, Indonesia, early Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. Almost 300 Rohingya Muslims were found on a beach in Indonesia’s Aceh province Monday and were evacuated by military, police and Red Cross volunteers, authorities said. (AP Photo/Zik Maulana)

Visitors tour St. Nicholas Church in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. The Czech Republic is returning to mandatory mask wearing in interior spaces amid a steep rise in new coronavirus cases. Starting Thursday, people across the country are required to cover their face in all public places, including stores, shopping malls, post offices and elsewhere, but also in private companies where employees cannot keep a distance of 6 feet from one another. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Ballet West rehearses for its New York City debut of African Sanctus, by British composer-explorer David Fanshawe, in March 1980. The ballet is based on Mr. Fanshawe’s 2,000-mile odyssey through Africa and combines field recordings of more than 50 African tribes within a musical setting of the traditional Mass. The composer said, “Wherever I went people were praising things — that is what African music is all about. It could be Christ or Muhammad, or something like love, creation or cattle.” RNS archive photo by Paul Kolnik. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society

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