Lions & Tigers & Non-Jews, Oh My!
To MOST Christian's surprise, Judaism (especially modern Judaism) maintains that the righteous of all nations have a place in the world to come. This has been the majority rule since the days of the Talmud. Judaism generally recognizes that Christians and Moslems worship the "same God" that we do and those who follow the tenets of their religions can be considered "righteous in the eyes of God."
Contrary to popular belief, Judaism does not maintain that Jews are better than other people.
Although we refer to ourselves as as "God's chosen people," we do not believe that God chose the Jews because of any inherent superiority.
According to the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 2b), God offered the Torah to all the nations of the earth, and to the Jews, last, and that they only accepted it because God held a mountain over their heads!
(In Ex. 19:17, the words generally translated as "at the foot of the mountain" literally mean "underneath the mountain"!)
A more popular idea in Protestant minds, is that "God chose the Jewish nation because they were the lowliest of nations, and their success would be attributed to God's might rather than their own ability. Clearly, these are not the ideas of a people who think they are better than other nations."
Because of the acceptance of Torah, Jews are supposed to have a special status in the eyes of God, but lose that special status when they abandon Torah. (Enter, me.)
Furthermore, the blessings that Jews received from God by accepting the Torah come with a high price: Jews inflict upon themselves a greater responsibility than non-Jews. While non-Jews are only obligated to obey the seven commandments given to Noah, Jews are responsible for fulfilling the 613 mitzvot in the Torah, thus God will supposedly punish Jews for doing things that would not be a sin for non-Jews.
Sounds a little heavy, huh? So, while the Jewish mindset does not presuppose racial or religious perfection, it does hold itself to a higher (or stricter standard). Just thought I'd clear that up.
