The Torah is considered a blueprint for the life of all humankind. When the Torah was given at Sinai and explicated by Moses over the next forty years, it resulted in a system of laws that, according to the traditional count, has 613 commandments for Jews, and seven for non-Jews. It may appear at first glance that the gap between Jewish and non-Jewish observance is enormous. But if we look a little more closely, we will see that it is not so great as it first appears.

The Seven Noachide Laws are as follows:

1. Not to worship idols
2. Not to curse God
3. To establish courts of justice
4. Not to commit murder
5. Not to commit adultery or sexual immorality
6. Not to steal
7. Not to eat flesh torn from a living animal.

These are seven basic principles which all have many implications. In properly observing the above seven commandments, a non-Jew will actually incorporate 66 mitzvot of the Torah which specify some of these items in greater detail. They involve much larger considerations as well; for example, the seventh implies that one should not practice cruelty to animals. Moreover, at the present time, when we no longer have a Holy Temple in Jerusalem or a Great Sanhedrin (Jewish Supreme Court of 71 elder sages), many of the 613 mitzvot do not apply. As a result, a Jew today can fulfill 271 possible mitzvot. So there is approximately a four-to-one ratio in the number of commandments a Jew today is expected to fulfill, compared to a non-Jew. In addition, many of the extra mitzvot of Jews have to do with Shabbat or Jewish holidays or with physical commandments like kosher food, which are not required of the non-Jew.