My Response to Kanye West

To Mr. West,

We saw that ad in which you explained your head injury and your battle with mental illness and we saw the apology for your Jew-hatred. 

We Jews have a concept called Teshuvah. It means atonement but it also means return. To atone for wrongdoing, we need to return to what G-d wants us to do. And it’s not a matter of just saying that you’re sorry. There are three steps. Step One is acknowledging the wrongdoing. Step Two is sincere regret. Step Three is working on yourself and becoming a better person to the point that if you were in a similar situation, you wouldn’t do the wrong thing again. 

We Jews also have a concept of judging people favorably. We try to find ways to give people the benefit of the doubt and if people want to redeem themselves, we try to give them a chance to do so.

We Jews also have a concept of not forgetting. We teach and learn about our past and our heritage all the time and we do not allow our people or our triumphs or our losses to be forgotten.

As you can imagine, many of us are skeptical about your apology. What you did wasn’t simply a squabble in the kindergarten sandbox. You promoted Hitler and his ideology of Jew-hatred. And that ideology gave permission to the haters out there to not only hate Jews but to hurt Jews. That’s dangerous on so many levels. And like I said before, we Jews have a habit of remembering things including hatred and violence.  

On the other hand, those of us familiar with mental illness (as psychologist/therapists and/or as patients) understand that you were probably very vulnerable to anything and anyone. We’re also considering the possibility that you were used by the people who wanted to promote the ideology of Jew-hatred.   

The questions that we’re all asking are as follows: 

Do you think that this ad will be enough to get you back into Jewish good graces? Do you really think that simply explaining your mental issues and saying that you’re not a Nazi or an antisemite and you love Jewish people will make up for the hatred and violence that resulted from your promotions of Jew-hatred? Do you really think that one statement will get us to trust you again? 

Or do you understand that it’s no more than Step One? Do you understand how the “I love Jewish people” sounds too much like “I can’t be racist- I have black friends”? Do you really understand how much hatred and violence you caused? Do you understand how much work you have to do to make up for the damage done?

I’m waiting to see what you’re going to do next. 

Are you going to just sit back and wait for us to forgive and forget? Are you going to do that and get upset when so many of us will not let it go? 

Or are you going to use this apology as your starting point and move on to Step Two- sincere regret- and then Step Three- becoming the kind of person who won’t promote Jew-hatred ever again? Are you going to make sure that the people who used you to promote hatred are exposed as users and removed from your life? Are you going to get the mental health care that you really need and work on yourself?

Many of us are willing to give you that chance and we’re waiting to see which way you go. 

Sincerely, 

A Jew who knows that you have a lot of work to do and who will not forget.