Cozy Corner

This time, Mel gets his apology right:

There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God’s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.

I’m not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.

This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It’s about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.

While others might not be so forgiving, Mel, I have a proposal for you. There is a good set of Jewish leaders for you to meet with. The first is Dayna Klein, a true leader. I'd propose Pamela Waechter, but she died - as a result of anti-Semitism. After you leave Seattle, you can go to France. Alfred Dreyfus can't speak with you, but the family of Ilan Halimi can help you see the extent to which anti-Semitism can go. Then, head out to Israel. Go up to Haifa, or Tzfat, and see what Jews put up with every day.

Then, you can come home, and have a few photo ops with a local rabbi eager to get his name in the paper. But meeting with us? First, go educate yourself.