The Noahide Laws

These seven laws are held in Jewish tradition to be binding on all humankind (all descended from Noah, hence the term Noahide) as opposed to The Torah specifically which is for Jews alone. They read like a first draft of the Ten Commandments:


 * 1) Do not worship idols
 * 2) Do not steal
 * 3) Do not murder
 * 4) Do not commit sexual sin
 * 5) Do not blaspheme God
 * 6) Do not eat meat taken from a living animal (actually, that may mean don't commit unnecessary cruelty to animals when you eat but it sounds cool if gross when put that way).
 * 7) Enact and uphold just laws

One point of the of this is to assert both the universality of morality and the uniqueness of the Jewish people. As a by product it also allows gentiles who are fond of Judaism but find complete conversion inconvenient (conversion to Judaism being a far more lengthy and involved process than in Christianity and rarely done) to become "auxiliary Jews" so to speak. See also Wikipedia's article about Noahide laws.