It's all downhill from here, folks

Well, I think I just got on the slippery slope.

I was out with some non-Jewish friends (I suppose some would say I was already on the slippery slope by having them) this week and I had a glass of wine.

It was not "kosher" wine. It was damn good, I might add. Either boiling white wine really does ruin it, or kosher wine of that quality is out of my price range.

Why wasn't it "kosher"? It didn't contain meat and milk mixed together, permissible animals slaughtered incorrectly, or even non-permissible animals. Wine, essentially, is just fruit juice, only more fun. (Especially when it has bubbles in it.) The wine I so sinfully drank was not kosher because it was made by "akum", which is a Hebrew acronym standing for avdei kochavim u'mazalot, or worshippers of stars and omens (ie, idol worshippers; ie, non-Jews or non-religious Jews ). Because of this, it is assumed to be made for the purpose of idol worship. This is despite the fact that this wine was made, bottled and sold for commercial use. I have always found this halacha to be irrelevant and tedious, particularly since I don't drink beer. Like chalav Yisrael (milk that has been milked with Orthodox Jewish supervision) and pat Yisrael (bread that has been baked with the assistance of a Jew), which are no longer universally followed amongst the Orthodox, I don't feel that this law still applies. I find its racism offensive and tiresome.

According to the Wikipedia article linked above, that puts me in the Conservative camp. Not that that bothers me.

Anyway, I don't usually find slippery slope argument valid. And I don't think I will now start eating treif. But I felt no guilt whatsoever drinking that wine, and it definitely made me feel like I wouldn't feel at all bad eating things that are "really" not kosher. So, we'll see what happens.