My hot take: eating the icecream purchased for the observant Jews does make him a jerk. If he wants a special icecream for himself he should ask for one.
Edit: adding some further thoughts. this was an action that subverted another’s intended action — here the company trying to do something “nice” for a particular subset of employees.
However, I also don’t like it when a business or institution shows favoritism. So maybe it was a valid tit for tat.
When eating ice cream turns into an identity conflict there is something wrong with people. Surely, people with a positive attitude would see this as something that can be enjoyed by a bigger group and thus some common ground. It takes ill will to turn an opportunity for enjoying something together into a basis for conflict.
> here the company trying to do something “nice” for a particular subset of employees.
Or the company is trying to be more inclusive to folks that do not want to eat regular icecream, and would not eat any otherwise. Then his action might have been in harmony with the intention.
Also, I don't see this as favoritism: While it is a special treatment, the ones eating kosher icecream do not have a better outcome than everyone else.
I would consider it favoritism if they were only trying to accommodate the special needs of a certain group, here the religious Jews, perhaps out of deference to religion… which seems to be a point of concern of the op since he goes on about his atheism.
I wouldn’t consider it favoritism if a general rule applied to which groups get special treatment, provided the rule itself did not show favoritism a priori and had reasonable motivation. A la “we want to accommodate as many people as possible but it’s too costly to get a special solution for any group with fewer than X people”.
So… yeah maybe you’re right and the latter applied here. In this case he followed the spirit of the law as a worthy tag along of the explicitly labeled intended recipient group.
When I was in Israel on a business trip, I ate there in a buffet serving kosher food, because it was all kosher for simplicity. Was I wrong doing that? Should I seek a "foreigners" restaurant only in such situation?
Edit: adding some further thoughts. this was an action that subverted another’s intended action — here the company trying to do something “nice” for a particular subset of employees.
However, I also don’t like it when a business or institution shows favoritism. So maybe it was a valid tit for tat.