(I). Idol Worship:

Idol worship is forbidden. Sacrificing to an idol, offering incense and libation to an idol, and bowing down to an idol is idol worship even if these actions are not the accepted modes of worship for these idols. Throwing a stone to an idol named Mercurius is a mode of worship for this idol only, nevertheless it is idol worship. Erecting an idol is forbidden. Belief in one non-physical GD is mandatory. It is forbidden to show honor to an idol even when this act is not the accepted form of worship for the idol. Some examples of this are, lighting candles before it, or hugging or kissing it. These prohibitions apply regardless of what his intentions are for performing the act.

The ancient idol worshipers such as the Biblical Pharaoh accepted Joseph's interpretation of his dream and stated that the decree was the will of the almighty GD. It would not be incorrect to assume that his concept of an almighty GD was that of a spiritual non- physical GD who was and will be forever and is the creator of all, yet Pharaoh worshiped physical entities as GDs. Maimonides explains their faulty philosophy. They believed in an almighty GD who is so spiritual that He does not as a general rule deal with the physical world. He created autonomous GDs to rule the physical world. Only in rare special circumstances does He make a decree and order these GDs to fulfill his command. Therefore, in order not to believe in idols we must believe that the almighty GD rules this world directly without intermediaries. His rule is based upon those rules that He instituted for His subjects which are the seven moral rules for mankind. To deny the fact that these seven moral rules are Divine would be the same as saying that a country has a King and government without any set rules of law. If a gathering of people does not have a set of rules that they follow, then they do not have a government or a ruler. Therefore, we must believe in a spiritual non-physical limitless GD who directly rules His creation without any intermediaries and demands of us to obey His seven moral rules. If someone believes in such a GD but does not believe that He demands of us to obey these rules, he does not believe in GD and he is on the same level of idol worshipers.

One is forbidden to fashion an idol in any way, and likewise one is forbidden to commission a craftsman to fashion an idol in any way even if it is done for commerce.

It is forbidden to cause others to sin and violate any of the Seven Moral Rules.

It is forbidden to practice witchcraft when an idol is involved with the witchcraft.

(II). Blasphemy:

It is forbidden to (heaven forbid) curse GD our creator. This prohibition of blasphemy is transgressed by using any term referring to GD, even only an attribute or epithet, such as, The Merciful One, or The Father.

(III). Homicide:

It is forbidden to take the life of a human even only indirectly, whether it be his own or another, or destroy a human embryo at any stage, because life begins at inception.

One is obligated to save a life. When saving a life with the life of the potential murderer, if there is no question about the fact that by wounding him he would no longer be a danger to anyone's life, then it is forbidden to kill him. If the victim is a dangerous criminal, he would be endangering his life to save him, therefore, he must not save him.

He is not allowed to save his life with someone else's life if his life is not being threatened by that person. However, with regards to the other six moral laws he may transgress them in order to save his life or the life of someone else.

It is permitted to save a mothers life with the life of her fetus.

The act of hiring a murderer is considered as if he murdered.

Masturbation is forbidden since he is destroying the potential to create a life. This sin is not punishable by court, only by GD.

(IV). Incest:

Incest is forbidden. The following is a list of forbidden relatives.

His/her biological mother or father. Therefore, if his/her embryo began IVF (in a dish) and was carried by a host mother who was not the biological mother or donor of the egg, his/her mother is the donor of the egg, and his/her father is the donor of the sperm. A father is also forbidden to his biological daughter. From now on all forbidden relatives refer to biological relatives.

A woman who was once married to his father who is not his mother, although she dissolved the marriage, she is forbidden to him. A married woman is forbidden to him. The definition of a married woman for non-jews is, a woman who has had at least one sexual relationship with a man and they continued contact with each other even if they do not live together in one apartment. When any partner decides to end this relationship and they no longer live together in a common dwelling, they are no longer married. If government law requires a court divorce, the law must be followed. Likewise if the law forbids one to marry other relatives, the law must be obeyed. Throughout history governments have enacted laws about marriage and divorce, and laws dealing with incest and prostitution, in order to civilize society, and in this way it was supposed to decrease the amount of violations of the Seven Moral Rules.

Homosexuality is forbidden. Both male and female are forbidden to have relationship with non- humans.

A non-jew is related through the mother and not through the father. Therefore, his half-sister from the same father but not from the same mother is not forbidden to him, but his half-sister from his mother is forbidden.

Prostitution and lesbianism will break down the morals of the society and cause people to commit incest. Therefore, they must be outlawed by the government.

It is obligatory to bear children, at least one male and one female. If he has all of one gender he may fulfill his obligation through a child when the child give birth to a child who is his grandchild, of the other gender.

It is forbidden to castrate any male, either human, animal, or fowl.

(V). Theft:

Theft is forbidden even if the amount is only a penny which is commercially worthless, because if everyone will take only a pennies worth of merchandise the owner will remain penniless.

raping or seducing a woman or girl is considered theft.

One violates this rule by substantially overcharging for an item, or lending money at exorbitant interest rates.

Using false weights and measures is theft. Therefore, possessing them should be outlawed by the government.

If one pressures his neighbor against his will to give him his wife or sell him his jewelry, he is guilty of incest as long as there was no divorce, and guilty of theft in any case.

One violates this rule if he has the money to pay the workers wages but does not pay the amount as agreed, or he pays the proper sum but he pays it after the time that was agreed upon.

If one does not repay a loan it is considered theft.

(VI). Meat from the Live:

It is forbidden to eat parts of an animal or fowl that was severed even if it still hangs from the body, even after being killed but before it's body ceased all discernable movement.

If flesh was removed from the major portion of a limb even after being killed but before it's body ceased all discernable movement, the remaining limb is also forbidden because the limb is considered as a whole, and if the majority of the whole is detached, the whole limb is considered detached.

If a piece of forbidden meat was mixed with permissible meat and one cannot differentiate between them, all the pieces of meat that are in question are prohibited, even if the prohibited piece of meat is only one part in sixty parts of permissible meat. If all the meat was ground together then the entire mixture is forbidden.

(VII). Communal and Governmental Institutions:

It is mandatory to organize courts of laws to judge people fairly and honestly and enforce the law. These courts must also enforce the Seven Moral Laws.

Each and every resident of a city or town that is under it's own jurisdiction is required to create such courts. Those who are passive about this matter are violating this rule. If one feels that he cannot accomplish this, he must move to a place that has such institutions and not dwell with evil, lest our Creator judge him guilty with the evil doers.

The communal responsibility to create courts of justice is part of a greater communal responsibility for each resident to enforce the Seven Moral Laws as much as possible. The establishment of an honest police force is included in this rule. Therefore, social service institutions such as hospitals, charitable institutions, fire fighters, and the like are mandatory in order to save lives in one way or another. Saving lives and saving souls are both mandatory. Unjustified character assassination or publicly embarrassing someone must be punished.

A non-jew is permitted to risk his life in order to enforce any of the Seven Moral Rules and court orders, providing that there is only a small risk to his life. If the odds are that he will be killed, he is not permitted to risk his life, especially since if he is killed the other life will not have been saved. Therefore, in this case the odds are both that he will be killed and that the victim will be killed. If however, the odds are that he will be able to save an important community leader of known integrity before being killed in revenge, he may risk his life even though the odds are that he will be killed afterwards.

Someone who is not mentally competent cannot be convicted, but he must be kept away from harming others.

Out of court arbitration and mediation based on the law, are preferable to the court and are binding.

Circumstantial evidence is admissible in court.

Regarding the Seven Moral Laws, ignorance is no excuse.

Laws must be based on truth, and judged by merits and not by sympathy or political considerations. Therefore, the judges must not favor a poor man or a rich man, nor a wise man or a politician, he must judge everyone impartially. A judge who accepts a bribe violates this law.

A judge may not hear the plea of one litigant unless the other one is present.

A judge may convict a suspect on the basis of testimony of a single witness who has an honest reputation. Nevertheless, the witness must be questioned to ensure the accuracy of his testimony.

Witnesses must be mature, honest, and not personally involved in the case. They must also follow the Seven Moral Laws.

Attributes to the Seven Moral Rules.

If one sins he has the opportunity to repent until his death. Penitence is done by regretting his sinful act and taking upon himself never to do it again, and begging GD our creator forgiveness. If the sin was between man or a violation of moral rules numbers 3 or 4 or 5, he must also make amends with his victim. If he took a life he must beg forgiveness at his grave and compensate his family as much as possible. If he rapped a woman he must beg forgiveness from her and her relatives and compensate her as much as possible. If however, she seduced him then she must beg forgiveness from him. If he stole or damaged property he must pay for the loss and beg forgiveness from his victim. If he caused someone pain by either wounding him or publicly embarrassing him, he must compensate him for the pain and loss of money that he may have caused and beg his forgiveness.

Repentance does not mean that all is forgiven without punishment. Punishment is meted out either by the hand of the courts or by GD our creator. One who does penitence saves his soul and secures himself a place in heaven and the world to come.

Anyone who transgresses any one of the Seven Moral Rules, knowing that he did a forbidden act, is guilty of capital punishment. In modern times, the courts at maximum execute only murderers or spies, and many governments do not allow capital punishment. GD our creator knows all and rewards and punishes as he decides.

Our creator reads our minds and our heart and knows if one is sincere about his penitence.

A non-jew may do or practice any of the 613 Commandments of the jews and he will be rewarded. There are five exceptions to this rule where a non-jew is not allowed to perform certain commandments.

1. Although it is a must to have a day off from work in order to fully observe the Seven Moral Rules, as explained before, nevertheless he must not observe the Sabbath or other jewish holy days according to all the laws pertaining to jews even if he observed it on another day of the week. However, he is permitted to participate in but not fully observe the holy days of Shevuos (giving of the Torah), Rosh Hashanoh (jewish new year), and Day of Atonement, because they all have significance to non-jews. The Seven Moral Rules are included in the Torah. On the jewish new year and day of atonement all mankind is judged by our creator and we are called on to do penitence and better our ways.

2. A non-jew is not permitted to study the details about a commandment that he does not intend to observe.

3. A Torah scroll must be written by an observant jew and not by a non-jew.

4. A non-jew is not permitted to wear phylacteries.

5. A non-jew is not permitted to affix a mezuzah to his door post.

The reason that wearing phylacteries and having a mezuzah fixed to each door post is not allowed is because one must be at a higher level of purity to observe these commandments. If however, he is preparing for gairus (the process of transforming himself to become a jew), and he is practicing other rituals as well, then the Rabbi in charge of his gairus may permit him to wear phylacteries and affix a mezuzah on each door post, if he feels that it is proper.

It is forbidden to interbreed animals of different species, or to graft trees of different types. If the purpose of grafting trees of different types is in order to provide more food for the malnourished people of the world and this is the preferred method, or this is one of other needed methods, then it is permitted.

Burial in the ground is important because it is a means to atone for one's sins.

When the Holy Temple will be rebuilt again in Jerusalem by a descendant of the royal house of King David, also known as Messiah, both jews and non-jews will be permitted to bring sacrifices to GD our creator, as was done in the days of yore. Today all we have is the power of prayer to beg mercy from our creator. When the Holy Temple was standing and GD accepted our sacrifices and prayer the world was a better place to live in. Forgiveness was more complete and righteous people lived happier and healthier lives.

The cities of Sodom and Amorah were destroyed for their many sins including their lack of charity and cruelty to guests who came to visit. Good deeds, even those not enumerated in the Seven Moral Rules are steps leading to achieving the goal of proper fulfillment of these Seven Moral Rules. A good deed is rewarded as if he fulfilled one of the moral rules.