Maryland lawmaker wants to expand kosher wine choices

JTA — A Maryland lawmaker is reportedly drafting a bill that will allow the state’s Jewish residents to buy kosher wine online from retailers outside Maryland.

State Delegate Sam Arora, a Silver Spring Democrat, told the Washington Examiner that he wants to give kosher wine consumers “the ability to live out their faith.” Arora’s district has a large population of observant Jews.

Maryland law now allows residents to buy wine online only from wineries in the United States or stores in Maryland, but most kosher wines are made in Israel and France. It is also a crime to carry more than one gallon of wine across the state border. No Maryland wineries produce kosher wine, according to the Examiner.

Some 35 kinds of kosher wine are available in Maryland, the newspaper reported, citing Cailey Locklair, director of government relations at the Baltimore Jewish Council.