The priests attending the Young Mobed Training course conducted at the Bhandara Atash Kadeh in Houston were "most enthusiastic when they were given an opportunity to offer boi… The young mobeds also debated various challenges they would face as mobeds and how to address them. All of them were eager to serve their respective communities selflessly. With such dedicated young mobeds we can be assured of a very bright future for Zoroastrianism in North America,” remarked Ervad Tehemton Mirza, president of the North American Mobeds Council (NAMC).
Young priests between 11 and 25 years of age from Texas, New York, California and North Carolina attended the course conducted by the NAMC Institute of Zoroastrian Studies on July 29 and 30, 2023. "Though we had intended to cap out class attendance to 10, we had more than 10 young and young-at-heart attend the course in 2023,” stated Mirza when responding to queries from Parsiana. This was "our third offering in the last few years and in these courses we have trained more than 25 young North American mobeds,” he added.
Above, from l (back row): In Houston, Ervads Rayomand Katrak, Noshir Khumbatta,
Yazad Sidhwa, Freyaan Vimadalal, Porus Pavri;
(front row): Kyan Lali, Kaus and Kash Doctor; inset: Ervad Tehemton Mirza
At the two-day sessions, Mirza instructed the young mobeds on various topics like meaning of basic prayers, the significance of jashan, satum and afargan rituals, the obsequies prayers, mobed history from the time of King Jamshed when the society was divided into four classes, the role of mobeds in ancient Iran during the Zoroastrian dynasties and their role in preserving Zoroastrianism after the fall of the Sasanian empire, the influence of Zoroastrianism on other religions. The youngsters were also given an overview of the Gathas and the meaning of some of the key verses. Mobed Mehbad Dastur of NAMC and Zoroastrian convert Joseph Peterson of
www.avesta.org guided the young mobeds on ways to source authentic information and knowledge of Zoroastrianism from reliable sources in cyberspace. Resident mobeds of the Bhandara Atash Kadeh Ervads Maneck Sidhwa and Parvez Gonda explained the ritual nuances of the boi and jashan ceremonies. The novice priests took a keen interest "in every segment of the course,” observed Mirza.
The Zoroastrian Association of Houston and the local families who hosted the visiting priests had also arranged for an evening of bowling followed by dinner to help members of the priestly fraternity create new friendships and bonds.
As the educational arm of NAMC, the Institute is "dedicated to training mobeds and educating the general public on Zoroastrianism.” The third edition of their courses "An Introduction to Zoroastrianism” that started on September 9 and "Gatha 101” starting October 14 are full. "We have a wait list and we intend to offer them again next fall. Our courses on Avesta language, Nyaiesh, Obsequies prayers, etc taught by Ervad (Dr) Ramiyar Karanjia were designed for mobeds but were also attended by the general public and were very well received. We are planning to offer courses on Zoroastrian and pre-Zoroastrian dynasties, Yashts, and Mobed Training in the near future,” specified Mirza. More information on free online courses and tax-deductible donations are available on their website
www.namcmobeds.org