Judaism vs Zoroastrianism

Judaism versus Zoroastrianism comparison chart
	Judaism	Zoroastrianism

Place of worship	Synagogues, Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem	Dar-e Mehr (Persian) or Agiyari (Gujarati) or Fire temple
Place of origin	The Levant	Persia (Iran)
Practices	Prayers 3 times daily, with a fourth prayer added on Shabbat and holidays. Shacarit prayer in the morning, Mincha in the afternoon, Arvit at night; Musaf is an extra Shabbat service.	Fire is used in Zoroastrian worship. Zoroastrians also pray 5 times a day.
Scriptures	Tanakh (Jewish Bible) , Torah.	The Zend Avesta.
Belief of God	Only one God (monotheism). God is the one True Creator. God has always existed, none existed before him and will exist forever. He transcends life and death.	One God.
Use of statues and pictures	Ancient times: Not allowed as it is considered Idolatry. Today, great artwork is encouraged. Statues of people are fine, but not as religious icons.	Permitted, there are several drawings regarding Prophet Zoroaster and symbolic images of God (Ahura Mazda).
Founder	Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses	Zarathustra Haechataspa Spitama or Zoroaster (Greek) or Zartosht (Parsi)
Goal of religion	To celebrate LIFE! To fulfill the Covenant with God. Do good deeds. Help repair the world. Love God with all your heart. Strong social justice ethic.	To serve God, by good deeds towards others. To acquire and cultivate divine attributes, particularly “ good mind and righteousness; to elevate themselves in harmony with God and to listen to God’s guiding voice within them.
Life after death	World to come, Reincarnation (some groups); unifying with God, there are different opinions and beliefs	Eternal life in Heaven, or in Hell.
Human Nature	You must choose good from bad. You are responsible for your actions, not thoughts.	equal ability to do good or evil.
About	Judaism is created by Abraham 2000 BCE and his descendants of Issac and Jacob. The Law: the 10 Commandments was given to Moses (and 600 000 Jews who left Egyptian slavery) in c, 1300 BCE to return to Israel and follow God's will.	Zoroastrianism is one of the most earliest monotheistic faith, in a concept of the one creator God (Known as Ahura Mazda)
Literal Meaning	A Jew (Hebrew: יְהוּדִי, Yehudi (sl.); יְהוּדִים, Yehudim (pl.); Ladino: ג׳ודיו, Djudio (sl.); ג׳ודיוס, Djudios (pl.); Yiddish: ייִד, Yid (sl.); ייִדן, Yidn (pl.))[1] is a member of the Jewish people/ethnicity.	Follower of Zoroaster.
Clergy	Ancient times: Hereditary privileged priest class--Kohen and Levi. Present day: Religious functionaries like Rabbis, Cantors, Scribes, Mohels.	Priests.
Means of Salvation	Through belief in God, good deeds, complete faith.	Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.
Geographical distribution and predominance	Existing in Israel for 1500 years, but the Romans in 70 AD kicked all Jews out. Jews are dispersed all over the world, at one time present in almost every country. Now the majority live in Israel, USA, Canada, Russia, France, England.	Middle East, Central Asia and Northern India.
Belief	Jewish central belief is that they have chosen to follow the commandments of the One True God and God will look out for them in return. Every man is equal. Jews believe a Messiah coming and proof will be an end to war and hunger all over the world.	There is a cosmic battle between the Good God, Ahura Mazda, and the evil god, Ahriman.
God's role in salvation	Divine revelation of God's law and to judge man's actions. Good deeds, and righteousness. Each New Year, during Yom Kippur, Jews fast and pray for forgiveness from God, and if accepted, are written into the Book of Life, for the next year.	Follow God's Commands to do good deeds.
Followers	Jews	Zoroastrians.
View of the Buddha	N/A.	N/A
Ressurection of Jesus	Denied	Denied
Prophets	Moses, and the subsequent Prophets of Israel as told in the Jewish Bible (Tanakh).	Zarathustra (Zoroaster)
Second coming of Jesus	Not part of liturgy.	N/A
Abrahamic Lineage	Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are thanked every prayer day. Jacob's 12 sons became the 12 tribes of israel. Of these, 10 were lost during Assyrian Exile.	N/A.
Definition	Of the tribe of Judah.	Follower of Zoroaster.
Holy days/Official Holidays	Sabbath, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Tu BiShvat, Purim, Passover, Lag BaOmer, Shavout. Holidays given by God or historical events, Israeli holidays. Holocaust remembrance.	Nowruz, Zartusht-no-diso, Jamshid nowruz
View of other Dharmic religions	N/A.	Zoroastrianism was founded in protest of worshipping numerous Aryan/Hindu deities.
Promised Holy one.	Belief in the Coming of a Messiah.	Saoshyant
Branches	Religious: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Renewel, Reconstruction. Traditions: Sephard, (Spain, Arab countries, Turkey). Ashkenazi: (Europe, Russia). MIzrachi: (Iraq, Persia, India).	Conservative Parsi, Conservative Irani, Gathas-only, modernists.
Names of God	HaShem, Adonai,	Ahura Mazda.
Birth of Jesus	Normal man, normal birth. Not part of liturgy.	N/A. They believe that Zarathustra was virgin born.
View of Animistic religions	The earliest Jewish holidays correspond to agricultural seasons. Jews uniquely developed monotheism as a God of All. They were surrounded by pagen tribes who believed in gods based on their location, or nature.	Pagan.
Death of Jesus	Not mentioned in Jewish texts.	N/A.
Rites	Mitzvahs. Bar & Bat Mitvahs are the most well known, but, there are others too.	Generally common.
Resurrection of Jesus	Simply not mentioned. not part of liturgy in Judaism. Considered authentic part of Christianity.	Denied
Views on the afterlife	Jews beleive in a human Soul, and Orthodox believe in A World To Come and a form of Reincarnation. Differing beliefs accepted. Very little discussion on afterlife. Focus is on time on Earth now.	Heaven and Hell.
Status of women	Equal to men in eyes of God and in the Law (Halakha). Woman traditionally have been granted more equal rights than most other world cultures. Today, traditions among the Orthodox and the Reform movements differ greatly.	Equal to men
Concept of Deity	Belief in one God and teachings of the tradition, prophets and rabbis.	One Good God, Who is in cosmic battle with one evil god.
Concept of God	One God	One God
Principle	By accepting the covenant, they choose to follow God's commandments. A unique ethnicity. Early monotheists.	Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.
Virtue on which religion is based upon	Justice.	Kindness.
View of Oriental religions	Jews accept others can have different religions. Jews must obey the law of the land, if ethical.	N/A
Place and Time of origin	1500 BC, Middle East. Religion formed over several centuries; was codified during the Babylonian exile. Literacy is encouraged to read Bible. Jews replaced animal sacrifice with prayer in Diaspora, after Romans destroyed Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD	Priests
Angels	Angels serve God as messengers. World is full of beings existing that we cannot see or understand. Kabbalah includes mystical studies of this.	Angels serve Ahura Mazda.
Identity of Jesus	Simply not part of liturgy. Not mentioned one way or the other.	Denied
Original Language	Hebrew has always been the central language of prayer. From 500 BCE, Aramaic and Greek koine and 'Aramized' Hebrew till 300 CE. Local languages and different extinct and living Jewish languages like Carfati, Yiddish, Ladino, Judesmo.	Persian, Gathic Avestan
Authority of Pope	N/A	N/A.
Authority of Dalai Lama	N/A.	N/A.
View of God	God is the one True Creator. God has always existed, none existed before him and will exist forever. He transcends life and death. God is one and the only holiness. God is the creator. He is beyond human understanding, he is omnipotent.	God is All Good.
Population	Around 13-16 Million, debated. Population varies due to conversion (although some types are not recognized by the state of Israel) and "marrying out" (of the faith)	Approx. 100,000 Zoroastrians in the world.
Prophet	Moses, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, etc.	Zarathustra
Praying to Saints,Mary, and Angel	N/A.	N/A.
Time of origin	c 1300 BC	2000 B.C.
Clothes	Jews wear skullcaps called kippot, or yarmulkes. In prayer, Men over 13 wear shawls, called Tallit, and during morning prayer, leather straps called Tefillin, which awaken the spiritual connection with God. Women cover their heads with a prayer shawl	Zoroastrians traditionally wear a sacred thread around their waist, the kusti. Both men and women must cover their heads.
Geographical predominance	Israel, USA, Canada, France, England, Russia, Argentina. Has varied throughout history, Arabia, Persia, Babylonia, Rome, Greece, Ottoman Empire, Eastern Europe, due to various migrations and persecutions.	Iran. After Islamic invasion of Iran in the 7th century, some Zoroastrians who did not convert to Islam were allowed to migrate to India and have maintained a community there ever since.

Place of worship

Synagogues, Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem

Dar-e Mehr (Persian) or Agiyari (Gujarati) or Fire temple

Place of origin

The Levant

Persia (Iran)

Practices

Prayers 3 times daily, with a fourth prayer added on Shabbat and holidays. Shacarit prayer in the morning, Mincha in the afternoon, Arvit at night; Musaf is an extra Shabbat service.

Fire is used in Zoroastrian worship. Zoroastrians also pray 5 times a day.

Scriptures

Tanakh (Jewish Bible) , Torah.

The Zend Avesta.

Belief of God

Only one God (monotheism). God is the one True Creator. God has always existed, none existed before him and will exist forever. He transcends life and death.

One God.

Use of statues and pictures

Ancient times: Not allowed as it is considered Idolatry. Today, great artwork is encouraged. Statues of people are fine, but not as religious icons.

Permitted, there are several drawings regarding Prophet Zoroaster and symbolic images of God (Ahura Mazda).

Founder

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses

Zarathustra Haechataspa Spitama or Zoroaster (Greek) or Zartosht (Parsi)

Goal of religion

To celebrate LIFE! To fulfill the Covenant with God. Do good deeds. Help repair the world. Love God with all your heart. Strong social justice ethic.

To serve God, by good deeds towards others. To acquire and cultivate divine attributes, particularly “ good mind and righteousness; to elevate themselves in harmony with God and to listen to God’s guiding voice within them.

Life after death

World to come, Reincarnation (some groups); unifying with God, there are different opinions and beliefs

Eternal life in Heaven, or in Hell.

Human Nature

You must choose good from bad. You are responsible for your actions, not thoughts.

equal ability to do good or evil.

About

Judaism is created by Abraham 2000 BCE and his descendants of Issac and Jacob. The Law: the 10 Commandments was given to Moses (and 600 000 Jews who left Egyptian slavery) in c, 1300 BCE to return to Israel and follow God's will.

Zoroastrianism is one of the most earliest monotheistic faith, in a concept of the one creator God (Known as Ahura Mazda)

Literal Meaning

A Jew (Hebrew: יְהוּדִי, Yehudi (sl.); יְהוּדִים, Yehudim (pl.); Ladino: ג׳ודיו, Djudio (sl.); ג׳ודיוס, Djudios (pl.); Yiddish: ייִד, Yid (sl.); ייִדן, Yidn (pl.))[1] is a member of the Jewish people/ethnicity.

Follower of Zoroaster.

Clergy

Ancient times: Hereditary privileged priest class--Kohen and Levi. Present day: Religious functionaries like Rabbis, Cantors, Scribes, Mohels.

Priests.

Means of Salvation

Through belief in God, good deeds, complete faith.

Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.

Geographical distribution and predominance

Existing in Israel for 1500 years, but the Romans in 70 AD kicked all Jews out. Jews are dispersed all over the world, at one time present in almost every country. Now the majority live in Israel, USA, Canada, Russia, France, England.

Middle East, Central Asia and Northern India.

Belief

Jewish central belief is that they have chosen to follow the commandments of the One True God and God will look out for them in return. Every man is equal. Jews believe a Messiah coming and proof will be an end to war and hunger all over the world.

There is a cosmic battle between the Good God, Ahura Mazda, and the evil god, Ahriman.

God's role in salvation

Divine revelation of God's law and to judge man's actions. Good deeds, and righteousness. Each New Year, during Yom Kippur, Jews fast and pray for forgiveness from God, and if accepted, are written into the Book of Life, for the next year.

Follow God's Commands to do good deeds.

Followers

Jews

Zoroastrians.

View of the Buddha

N/A.

N/A

Ressurection of Jesus

Denied

Prophets

Moses, and the subsequent Prophets of Israel as told in the Jewish Bible (Tanakh).

Zarathustra (Zoroaster)

Second coming of Jesus

Not part of liturgy.

N/A

Abrahamic Lineage

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are thanked every prayer day. Jacob's 12 sons became the 12 tribes of israel. Of these, 10 were lost during Assyrian Exile.

N/A.

Definition

Of the tribe of Judah.

Follower of Zoroaster.

Holy days/Official Holidays

Sabbath, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Tu BiShvat, Purim, Passover, Lag BaOmer, Shavout. Holidays given by God or historical events, Israeli holidays. Holocaust remembrance.

Nowruz, Zartusht-no-diso, Jamshid nowruz

View of other Dharmic religions

N/A.

Zoroastrianism was founded in protest of worshipping numerous Aryan/Hindu deities.

Promised Holy one.

Belief in the Coming of a Messiah.

Saoshyant

Branches

Religious: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Renewel, Reconstruction. Traditions: Sephard, (Spain, Arab countries, Turkey). Ashkenazi: (Europe, Russia). MIzrachi: (Iraq, Persia, India).

Conservative Parsi, Conservative Irani, Gathas-only, modernists.

Names of God

HaShem, Adonai,

Ahura Mazda.

Birth of Jesus

Normal man, normal birth. Not part of liturgy.

N/A. They believe that Zarathustra was virgin born.

View of Animistic religions

The earliest Jewish holidays correspond to agricultural seasons. Jews uniquely developed monotheism as a God of All. They were surrounded by pagen tribes who believed in gods based on their location, or nature.

Pagan.

Death of Jesus

Not mentioned in Jewish texts.

N/A.

Rites

Mitzvahs. Bar & Bat Mitvahs are the most well known, but, there are others too.

Generally common.

Resurrection of Jesus

Simply not mentioned. not part of liturgy in Judaism. Considered authentic part of Christianity.

Denied

Views on the afterlife

Jews beleive in a human Soul, and Orthodox believe in A World To Come and a form of Reincarnation. Differing beliefs accepted. Very little discussion on afterlife. Focus is on time on Earth now.

Heaven and Hell.

Status of women

Equal to men in eyes of God and in the Law (Halakha). Woman traditionally have been granted more equal rights than most other world cultures. Today, traditions among the Orthodox and the Reform movements differ greatly.

Equal to men

Concept of Deity

Belief in one God and teachings of the tradition, prophets and rabbis.

One Good God, Who is in cosmic battle with one evil god.

Concept of God

One God

Principle

By accepting the covenant, they choose to follow God's commandments. A unique ethnicity. Early monotheists.

Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.

Virtue on which religion is based upon

Justice.

Kindness.

View of Oriental religions

Jews accept others can have different religions. Jews must obey the law of the land, if ethical.

N/A

Place and Time of origin

1500 BC, Middle East. Religion formed over several centuries; was codified during the Babylonian exile. Literacy is encouraged to read Bible. Jews replaced animal sacrifice with prayer in Diaspora, after Romans destroyed Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD

Priests

Angels

Angels serve God as messengers. World is full of beings existing that we cannot see or understand. Kabbalah includes mystical studies of this.

Angels serve Ahura Mazda.

Identity of Jesus

Simply not part of liturgy. Not mentioned one way or the other.

Denied

Original Language

Hebrew has always been the central language of prayer. From 500 BCE, Aramaic and Greek koine and 'Aramized' Hebrew till 300 CE. Local languages and different extinct and living Jewish languages like Carfati, Yiddish, Ladino, Judesmo.

Persian, Gathic Avestan

Authority of Pope

N/A

N/A.

Authority of Dalai Lama

N/A.

View of God

God is the one True Creator. God has always existed, none existed before him and will exist forever. He transcends life and death. God is one and the only holiness. God is the creator. He is beyond human understanding, he is omnipotent.

God is All Good.

Population

Around 13-16 Million, debated. Population varies due to conversion (although some types are not recognized by the state of Israel) and "marrying out" (of the faith)

Approx. 100,000 Zoroastrians in the world.

Prophet

Moses, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, etc.

Zarathustra

Praying to Saints,Mary, and Angel

N/A.

Time of origin

c 1300 BC

2000 B.C.

Clothes

Jews wear skullcaps called kippot, or yarmulkes. In prayer, Men over 13 wear shawls, called Tallit, and during morning prayer, leather straps called Tefillin, which awaken the spiritual connection with God. Women cover their heads with a prayer shawl

Zoroastrians traditionally wear a sacred thread around their waist, the kusti. Both men and women must cover their heads.

Geographical predominance

Israel, USA, Canada, France, England, Russia, Argentina. Has varied throughout history, Arabia, Persia, Babylonia, Rome, Greece, Ottoman Empire, Eastern Europe, due to various migrations and persecutions.

Iran. After Islamic invasion of Iran in the 7th century, some Zoroastrians who did not convert to Islam were allowed to migrate to India and have maintained a community there ever since.

Judaism vs. Zoroastrianism

Comparison chart

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