The Seven Universal Laws
One Creator. One human family. One covenant — given to Noah after the flood, renewed at Mount Sinai, and entrusted to the people of Israel to teach to every nation.
The Torah teaches that before there were Jews and Hindus, Christians and Muslims, there was one covenant between God and humanity. Its terms are seven timeless laws — six given to Adam, the first human, and one added for Noah. They are not rituals of any one religion; they are the moral spine of civilization itself, and the Torah calls those who live by them "the pious of the nations of the world," who have a full share in the World to Come.
Maimonides, the great codifier of Jewish law, rules that Moses was commanded by God "to compel all the inhabitants of the world to accept the commandments given to the children of Noah" — not to become Jewish, but to live these seven laws as the command of the One God (Laws of Kings 8:10). This is why we are here.
Each law below is a gateway — click through for the full teaching.
- 01
One God, No Idols
Serve only the infinite Creator — beyond every form and image.
The first and deepest of the Seven Laws: to serve only the infinite Creator — no image, no statue, no intermediary. A teaching offered with love to the land of a million temples.
Read the teaching - 02
Honor His Name
Speak of the Source of life with reverence, never with curses.
The second law: reverence for the Source of life. Why the words we speak about God shape the soul of a person and a society.
Read the teaching - 03
Cherish Life
Every human being is a whole world, created in the divine image.
The third law: do not murder. Why the Torah calls every human being an entire world — and what that demands from each of us.
Read the teaching - 04
Loyalty in Marriage
The sacred bond of husband and wife is the foundation of the world.
The fourth law: faithfulness. Why the Torah sees the bond of husband and wife as the holiest space in the world — and betrayal of it as the deepest fracture.
Read the teaching - 05
Respect What Is Not Yours
Honesty in money, work and word — the test of real spirituality.
The fifth law: do not steal. The Torah's radical claim that your money habits are your real spiritual biography.
Read the teaching - 06
Establish Justice
Build courts and communities where truth is upheld.
The sixth law: establish justice. The one positive command of the covenant — humanity must build societies where truth is upheld and the weak are protected.
Read the teaching - 07
Respect All Life
Kindness to creatures: never eat a limb taken from a living animal.
The seventh law: never eat a limb taken from a living animal. The covenant's boundary of compassion — and the Torah's larger vision of humanity's role in nature.
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Where to go deeper
For the practical details of Noahide life, the recognized authoritative works are Sefer Sheva Mitzvot HaShem by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and its English companion The Divine Code. Our structured foundation course follows The Theory and Practice of Universal Ethics by Rabbi Dr. Shimon Dovid Cowen (used with the author's kind permission). Join a live class to study with a teacher, and ask us anything in the community.
Study the Seven Laws with a teacher
Join the free weekly English class from Dharamsala, or simply write to us with the question you actually have.