The Parsees and Ancient Israel

Zoroastrianism is a  religion practised by descendants of Persians.today mainly on the west coast of India in Mumbai and Gujarat.

They number about 70, 000 are often highly educated and relatively economically well off. Parsis do not worship fire as an idol, but revere it as the purest symbol of Divinity. They also expose their dead to be devoured by the elements.

They are know as "Parsee" i.e. Persians. They arrived in India in the 700s to 900s CE.
The sacred texts of this religion indicate that originally it may have been monotheistic and even close to the Hebrew Bible. Later it developed, or acquired, pagan and naturalistic elements similar to those found in  India.
Nevertheless they still preserve copies of their earliest books (The Gathas) and some of these indicate Israelite Origins.

In these articles we explain Zarathustra (Zoroaster) the founder of Zoroastrianism was probably an Israelite.
He may have been possibly a disciple of Jeremiah or one of the pupils of Jeremiah.
This WAS NOT an original idea of ours. Others had suggested the same long before.

Recently a group of Rabbinical Students an organization calling itself the 'Sanhedrin" 
issued  a letter, signed by the Rabbis of the Mount Zion Sanhedrin Court. It was presented as a call to the Iranian people to abandon the regime of the Islamic Republic, which they described as heirs to the evil "Ahriman" (a Satanic figure in Zoroastrianism) and Haman, and to return to a "path of their fathers" that aligns with the monotheism of both Zoroaster and Mordechai.
The Sanhedrin argues that the religious reforms of Zoroaster took place during the same period as the Purim story.

Zoroaster  (4785)
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/quora/qgeneral-history/zoroaster.html
The Northern Israelites were exiled by the Assyrians to northern areas of the Assyrian Empire. Some were also taken overseas in ships by Philistine and Phoencians proxies of the Assyrians.

2-Kings 17:
6 IN THE NINTH YEAR OF HOSHEA, THE KING OF ASSYRIA CAPTURED SAMARIA; HE CARRIED THE ISRAELITES AWAY TO ASSYRIA. HE PLACED THEM IN HALAH, ON THE HABOR, THE RIVER OF GOZAN, AND IN THE CITIES OF THE MEDES.

The Cities of the Medes was in the region of Media. It adjoined Mannae.
The Aramaic Translation to Amos (4:3) says that the Israelites were exiled  to  Beyond the Mountains of Mannae. This region involved the Kingdoms of both Assyria and Urartu. Israelite Exiles were in both areas as reflected in the Histories of Armenia.
In these areas the Israelites federated with other peoples known generically as the Sons of Gomer. They included the Cimmerians and Scythians.
The is represented symbolically in the Biblical Book of Hosea where the Prophet begats three children each representing a different facet of the Exile of the northern 10 Tribes of Israel.

The Cimmerians were first recalled as at war with Urartu (Ararat). They were then in the region of Mannae west of Media and north of Assyria. Some (e.g. Kristensen) consider the Cimmerians to have been auxiliaries in the Assyrian forces. At all events there were Cimmerians and a Cimmerian regiment in the Assyrian army. They specialized in equestrian matters, chariots and cavalry. The Scythians emerged from the Cimmerians. References to Cimmerians in some contexts are considered to actually mean Scythians.   After serving the Assyrians and being allied with them the Scythians joined the opposing side and helped the Medes and Babylonians destroy the Assyrian Empire.
Nineveh the capital of Assyria was conquered by the Babylonians and the Medes and Scythians in ca. 614 BCE. The Scythians were betrayed and pushed out by the Medes. The Babylonians conquered Judah in ca. 580 BCE,
The Medes betrayed them and massacred their leadership. After that the Scythians and Cimmerians were driven in stages to the north. The Eurasian area north of the Caucasus is henceforth known to historians as Scythia.  We trace the Angles and Saxons and related nations in Scandinavia, etc, to the Scythians. The Medes were replaced by their ally the Persians.

Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty conquered Babylonia in 550 BC.
 
# The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here. ... : the Pasargadae, Maraphii, and Maspii, upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished; they contain the clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii, all of which are attached to the soil, the remainder, the Dai, Mardi, Dropici, Sagarti, being nomadic. #
 Herodotus, Histories 1.101 & 125.

The Parrgadae have a name implying "Son of Gad" (de Gobineau). This indicates that Israelites were alrready part of the Persian Confederatiomn.

Cyrus revolted against the Median Empire in 553 BC, and in 550 BC succeeded in defeating the Medes, capturing Astyages and taking the Median capital city of Ecbatana.[34]
Cyrus is credited with freeing the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, permitting their return to Judah, and authorizing the rebuilding of Jerusalem, including the Second Temple.
The forerunner of Zoroaster or Zoroaster himself had met up with Cyrus.
Cyrus was followed by Cambyses and he by Darius. According to the Cyrus Cylinder (the oldest extant genealogy of the Achaemenids) the kings of Anshan were Teispes, Cyrus I, Cambyses I and Cyrus II, also known as Cyrus the Great, who founded the empire..

Other sources give entirely different lineages.

The Purim Story is found in the Book of Esther.

During the reign of King Ahasuerus. Queen Vashti, the wife of King Ahasuerus, is removed from the court for disobeying the king's orders. A beauty pageant is held to find a new queen, and Esther, a young Jewish woman living in Persia, is chosen as the new queen.
Esther does not reveal her Jewish identity to the King. Mordecai and Esther were members of the Tribe of Benjamin, Joseph and Benjamin were the only sons of Rachel the favorite wife of Jacob (who was renamed Israel).
The family connection between Mordecai and Esther was not known.
Mordecai and Esther thus parallel the forces of Joseph working to rescue the Jewish People.
Mordecai, the uncle of Esther who was a Jewish leader and some kind of government official, discovered a plot to kill the King.
He tells Esther to inform the king and the plot is discovered.
Meanwhile Haman another government official becomes almost all-powerful in the government. He orders that all officials to bow down to him.
Mordecai refuses. Haman plots to take revenge on Mordecai by wiping out all the Jews in the Empire.
Haman is a descendant of Agag, a descendant of Amalek the Edomite and major adversary of Israel.
In Jewish tradition the Amalekites do not need a reason to hate the Jews. They simply hate them and wish to exterminate them.
Haman uses some type of dice, referred to "PUR,"  to determine what is the most propitious month to attack the Jews. It falls on the month of Adar.
Haman then persuades the King to have the Jews exterminated. He describes them as a dispersed people of no value to the realm and he bribes the monarch with a large sum of money.
Mordecai urges Esther to use her position as queen to intervene and save their people.
Meanwhile, at night Ahasuerus cannot sleep and orders the court records be read to him (6:1). He is reminded that Mordecai had interceded in the previous plot against his life. Mordecai had never received any recognition (6:2-3).
The arrival of Haman at the court is then announced. 
Ahasuerus asks Haman what should be done for the man that the King wishes to honour (6:4-6). Assuming that the King is referring to Haman himself, Haman suggests that the man be dressed in the King's royal robes and crown and led around on the King's royal horse, while a herald calls: "See how the King honours a man he wishes to reward!" (6:7-9). To his surprise and horror, the King instructs Haman to do so to Mordecai (6:10-11).
The King understands what Haman had assumed and suspects Haman of wishing to replace him on the throne.
Esther reveals her Jewish identity to the king and begs for mercy for her people. She exposes Haman's plot and convinces the king to spare the Jews.
Haman begins to implore Esther to have mercy on him. He falls on Esther just as the King enters. The King interprets the falling of Haman on the queen as an attempt to rape her.
The King explains to Esther that the decree cannot be revoked BUT the Jews will be allowed to defend themselves. The day the Jews were supposed to be massacred is the 14th of Adar, which later became known as Purim after the conjuring instruments that Haman had employed
They do so and more than 75,000 enemies of the Jews are put to death. Haman and ten of his sons are also executed.
The Jewish festival of Purim is established to celebrate the victory of the Jews over their enemies,
This the feast of Purim.

The Pseudo-Sanhedrin Proposal is that Haman was a representative of the Forces of Evil. He is to be identified with the Tribe of Magi.
The Magi were a tribe of the Medes who were an important element within the Persian Empire. Their priests are known as Amgushi
and as Magi. The English  words "magic" and "magician" are derived from the "Magi."
 In Zoroastrianism there were two forces
Ahura Maga the God of good
and
Ahrimon the god of evil.
This appears to be a later development. Originally there was only One God.
The god of Evil and the rule of the Magi priests was a later development.
The pseudo-Sahedrin People trace the influence of the Magi in Iranian culture and reverence for the god of evil and destruction all the way down to the rule of Atatollahs in Iran  today.

# 'Pay attention to the linguistic similarity between Ahriman the evil and Haman the wicked of the Megillah of Esther, and between them and Khamenei the Supreme Leader whom the people of God eliminated. The linguistic and essential connection between them is not coincidental. This is the same seed of evil that tries in every generation to destroy you and the world. The Revolutionary Guards cling to evil and chaos, to the destruction of the world, and bring the world into perpetual conflict and continual ruin. They serve Satan and not God. They advance evil and destruction and death, and not good and life and the building of the world that serves God.' #

They imply that originally Zoroastrianism was closer to Judaism and more monotheistic.
Originally Zoroastrianism was quite Biblical. They attribute its original teachings to Mordecai.
There may be something to these ideas and they are worth keeping in mind.
Nevertheless, Zoroastrianism did not begin with Mordecai but rather with Jeremiah or an emissary of his,

Jeremiah was a prophet of the Almighty. He is conventionally  dated to ca. 650-570 BCE.
Jewish Tradition differs from that in practice today. The Midrash Seder Olam says that Jeremiah began his prophecies in 463 BCE  and in 423 (cf. 587 conventional date) the First Temple was destroyed.
Jeremiah was known as a prophet from the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah (626 BC),until after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 587 BC.
This period spanned the reigns of five kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah.. The prophetess Huldah was a relative and contemporary of Jeremiah, while the prophet Zephaniah was his mentor.

Esther is dated according to Seder Olam to the 350s BCE.

Esther did not introduce the Persians to Monotheism. It existed in some form from Shortly beforehand and recalls the message of the Prophets. It was not the only relgious belief extant at the time. Other pagan notions existed and these were to merge with that of the Hebrew prophets and create Zoroastrianis as we know it today. Neverthesess the Sanhedrin is to be thanked for bringing this issue to public attention.

Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, a cohen-priest from the land of Benjamin in the village of Anathoth.
Jeremiah preached and prophesied concerning the future. He began his prophecy under the reign of King Josia. At this stage he was sent to Media by the King to preach tot he Lost Ten Trobes.
He predicted the destruction of Jerusalem. This happened and most of the Jews were taken to Babylon,
A small group rebelled and later fled to Egypt forcing Jermeiah to come with them. Baruch the scribe of Jeremiah went with him, along with the daughters of the deposed King of Judah.
What happened after that we do not know. Different legends trace Jeremiah to Ireland, or to Persia. Putting everything together we may be fairly certain that emissaries from Jeremia or acting in his spirit did reach Persia ataround ths time.
Meanwhile the Ten Tribes had been exiled. Some of them had been taken to Media and to areas of Persia. From there they later moved elsewhere.

See Also:
Judaism vs. Zoroastrianism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YavcdoBAO9o&t=494s

Sanhedrin and Persia
Identifying Zoroaster with Mordecai the uncle of Queen Esther and other matters.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/sources/san.html

Zoroaster

https://hebrewnations.com/articles/quora/qgeneral-history/zoroaster.html