That night on the TV (which many of them shun along with the internet as a source of moral corruption) 15,000 Haredi are protesting on the streets of Jerusalem against enforced service in the Israeli military. ‘The Torah above everything’ they chant, ‘the army will not take pupils from Yeshiva.’ (Jewish religious school)

Since the founding of Israel, military conscription has been an obligatory rite of passage for almost all citizens as soon as they reach the age of 18. Consequently, you see scores of young Israelis on the streets every day sporting automatic weaponry and uniforms as comfortably as London kids do wearing H&M and Primark. In front of a synagogue, I chat with a female soldier excited to be starting her two years of service (see main photo).

’Being trained in the military not only means we can take up arms and fight for our right to exist’ she tells me, ‘it provides discipline, turns you into an adult and gives you another perspective on life – you will learn you are physically and mentally capable of going way beyond whatever you once thought was possible’.

Along its length, pilgrims flock to immerse themselves in the River Jordan, where story has it Jesus was baptized by St. John. I head north towards the Golan Heights to join them and spend a surreal morning up to my neck in freezing cold water photographing a ceremony where the faithful have travelled from as far afield as Poland, Brazil and Russia to replicate the act. Appropriately, one of them is long-haired and bearded like he’s just stepped out of the bible.