Question: What happens to non-righteous non-Jews?
Answer: "The pious ones of the nations of the world" is a rabbinic term for righteous gentiles. By the time of Maimonides, such persons were
to be considered as much as any one in the House of Israel for
participation in the world to come. Maimonides went further to include all those who were decent, God-fearing and walked in God's ways as eligible for whatever rewards await one in the world to come.
In brief and very crude distinctions, there is life, death, a messianic period that serves as a transition to the world to come. How and in which ways the last two periods function are wide open to interpretation from the days of the Talmud until the present with virtually all possible ideas expressed.
Thus, those who are deserving of punishment will somehow be punished. I believe this includes, Jews, non-Jews and non-Jews who observe the Noachide laws. There are Jews, however, who believe that their Jewishness, their being a part of the "Chosen People", makes them more deserving and less punishable in the world to come.
Personally, I take issue with this understanding of the term "chosen." I believe that being "chosen" means we have been shown and taught what is expected of us. Thus, we Jews will also be held more seriously accountable for breaking God's laws, for failing to observe God's ways, than non-observant non-Jews. I realize that this is a logical rather than a theological statement, but I feel more comfortable with this notion of "choseness."
