Article Religion

Goyim

Jews and the Goyim

Updated Apr 12, 2026
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How do Jews view non-Jews?

Jews are governed by their 613 mitzvot (commandments). These are explicit rules laid out in their scripture that they must follow in addition to various interpretations and additions for modern life. According to the same “Jewish law, non-Jews (Gentiles) are not obligated to convert to Judaism, but they are required to observe the Seven Laws of Noah to be assured of a place in the World to Come (Olam Ha-Ba), the final reward of the righteous.” The punishment for not following these laws, aside from not being allowed in the world to come, is death. 

The definition according to Wikipedia (which I agree with): Idolatry or idol worship is the worship of an idol as though it were a deity. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the Abrahamic God as if it were God. In these monotheistic religions, idolatry has been considered as the "worship of false gods" and is forbidden by texts such as the Ten Commandments.

Disclaimer: Obviously state law supersedes religious law in the west and people are not killed for their beliefs. Historically there has been little if any actual punishment enacted by the jews for violating these religious laws. Most Jews today don't judge other religions harshly in practice—focus is on ethical living over theological purity for non-Jews. I am simply laying out the facts as understood in the religious texts. 

For non Abrahamic religions it is crystal clear, they are all sinners in the eyes of the jewish religion and either will not be accepted in the world to come or should be put to death. 

Islam is acceptable since Muhammad (peace be upon him) was a profit and worshiped the same single god as the Jews. 

Christianity is not acceptable and arguably is worse than the non Abrahamic religions from a Jewish perspective. Christians do worship the same god, but they believe in the holy trinity where god exists as 3 entities. God, the son, and the holy spirit. Moses Maimonides (1138–1204), a preeminent Jewish philosopher whose works and teachings are still in use today, explicitly stated how Christianity is Idolatry. Now under an extremely generous and frankly incorrect interpretation of Christianity, an argument can be made that since the entities are still the same god that it is not idolatry, but if you dig deeper you'll see that god being indivisible is also a criteria. Therefore being christian is at least not acceptable in the world to come and at most punishable by death. 

The reason that Christianity is arguably worse than just Idolatry is because of two reasons, the first is that Christianity claims to at the very least complete and at most correct Judaism, that is where the new testament comes in with Jesus' teachings. The second is that gentiles are not supposed to study the Talmud or Torah, but the old testament in the bible is contains the five books of moses which are also found in the Torah. The third is that Jesus himself proclaimed that the second temple will be destroyed, and for Christians that is basically god calling for the destruction of the holiest Jewish site.

In practice this means that the only real options are either the pre-jewish religion (similar to what adam and eve would have been) or Islam. Everything else is not acceptable and even punishable. Atheism is somewhere in between.

A side note on the persecution of Jesus, one of the primary reasons that Jesus was not accepted at his time by his fellow Jews was that the Jews expected a messiah to come and bring about the world to come or The Messianic Age which involved, among other things, world peace. But to the Jews of the time in Israel this meant them defeating all of their enemies, whereas Jesus wanted to bring about this age via understanding and forgiveness. 

Goyim

The definition of the term goy (singular) or goyim (plural) is often debated. The literal definition is that it's the Hebrew term for gentiles. Generous interpretations frame it as “people” where it could even refer to Jews, this does have some basis in historical text. On the other end of the spectrum, it is a derogatory term used for non Jews referring to them almost like cattle. My take is somewhere in the middle where it is a pretty neutral term that is very context dependent.

The term is exceptionally unique and exclusionary with no equivalent for another group, other than just adding a prefix to the original like non-English. 

Random fact: Goyim are generally not permitted to read the Jewish religious texts, aside from the basic items that pertain to the goyim.