According to Torah (Orthodox) Judaism, Gentiles (who include all non-Jewish people, not only Christians) will share in the afterlife in Heaven if they are moral people who follow the Seven Laws of Noah (Noachide Laws), which include prohibitions against murder, theft, idolatry, blasphemy, sexual immorality, and eating the flesh of living animals. These are the only required commandments for Gentiles to follow to be considered among the Righteous. Jews, however, are required to follow or practice all the commandments of the Torah, which consist of 613 commandments, or as many as they can, given the fact that about half of these 613 commandments can no longer be practiced in the modern world since they involve rituals which relate to the destroyed Temple. But the ones which cannot currently be practiced are still “on the books,” so to speak, to be resumed when the Temple is rebuilt. That leaves about 300 Torah commandments today for Jews to follow. Even here, though, many Orthodox Jews believe G-d looks favorably on Jews who do the best they can to obey as many of the commandments as they are able to, even though they might not be successful in following them all. In other words, sincere effort counts favorably in the eyes of G-d. And those Jews who are members of what Torah Jews regard as heretical movements–Conservative Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, and Reform Judaism–are not assumed to be damned, but are usually treated as “invincibly ignorant,” to borrow a Catholic concept. On the other hand, atheists are on shakier ground with regard to Heaven according to Torah Judaism; but even they may merit G-d’s mercy by means of their good deeds. In general, Judaism–like Catholicism–is quite reluctant to judge or even speculate who might or might not go to Heaven. It is a topic which Jews prefer to leave to G-d. While most Jews do believe in Heaven, the focus of Judaism has always been leading a moral life on Earth.
