{"id":47508,"date":"2019-03-01T14:49:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-01T20:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=47508"},"modified":"2019-03-01T14:50:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-01T20:50:45","slug":"op-ed-why-michael-cohen-hasnt-earned-my-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/op-ed-why-michael-cohen-hasnt-earned-my-forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"OP-ED: Why Michael Cohen hasn\u2019t earned my forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By NYLAH BURTON<\/p>\n<p>DENVER (JTA) \u2014&nbsp; This week, many Americans desperately want to forgive Michael Cohen.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Donald Trump\u2019s former personal lawyer testified to Congress about misconduct by and surrounding his ex-boss and became an unlikely hero to many hoping to unseat the president. Indeed, many Jewish thought leaders and writers identified that Cohen\u2019s public penance and admittance of wrongdoing were reminiscent of doing <em>teshuvah<\/em>, starting the Jewish process of redemption.<br \/>\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/PopChassid\/status\/1100780530344316928<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">HOLY SHIT <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CohenTestimony?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CohenTestimony<\/a> &quot;I did the same thing you&#39;re doing for ten years. The more people who follow Mr. Trump as I did blindly, will have the same consequences&#8230;&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/YOMKIPPUR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#YOMKIPPUR<\/a> IS NOW.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Michael W. Twitty (@KosherSoul) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KosherSoul\/status\/1100804801477181440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 27, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Cohen has been convicted of a litany of crimes that one sentencing judge described as a \u201cveritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct,\u201d adding that \u201ceach of the crimes involved deception and each appears to have been motivated by personal greed and ambition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Admitting as much before the nation, Cohen described in detail his misdeeds and the depth of Trump\u2019s bigotry \u2013 especially toward black people. Cohen told Congress that Trump \u201conce asked me if I could name a country run by a black person that wasn\u2019t a \u2018shithole.\u2019 This was when Barack Obama was president of the United States. While we were once driving through a struggling neighborhood in Chicago, he commented that only black people could live that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During Wednesday\u2019s hearing, Cohen expressed deep remorse for enabling Trump\u2019s actions, calling the former real estate mogul a \u201cracist,\u201d \u201ccon man\u201d and a \u201ccheat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Listening to Cohen\u2019s unequivocal rejection of Donald Trump was cathartic for me, but I don\u2019t think Cohen has earned society\u2019s forgiveness yet. It\u2019s easy to be sorry when you\u2019ve been caught. It\u2019s easy for Cohen to feel as though he were acting out of character when he remained loyal to Trump.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s not as easy to admit that one\u2019s own biases and shortcomings influenced that loyalty. And it\u2019s not easy to spend the rest of your life actively dismantling the systems of oppression. I haven\u2019t seen Cohen commit to doing this.<\/p>\n<p>However, if the first step of teshuvah is admitting that you\u2019ve caused harm, then Cohen may be well on his way. Historian and author Michael Twitty told me, \u201cOf all the Jews involved with Trump, [Cohen] seems to take the most seriously the idea of all of this being a shanda [disgrace].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But of course, just admitting you\u2019ve caused pain is not enough. For Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, Cohen\u2019s path to redemption will be a long one, and this is but a first step.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe work of repair,\u201d she told me, \u201cwill need to involve him going far beyond the minimum required of him by the law \u2013 [which is] not lying under oath. \u2026 He can never make it right, not completely, but he can spend the rest of his life working towards building a different kind of a world. [True teshuvah] will demand no less.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But I demand more from Michael Cohen. His remorse might be sincere, but he still chose to provide a racist and a misogynist with the opportunities to damage our society. To start forgiving Cohen, I need to see that he is fully committed to fighting the systems that oppress the people Trump harmed.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s relatively easy to denounce a leader that the world finds to be reprehensible. But it\u2019s not easy to speak up when you have nothing to gain and everything to lose. It\u2019s easy to suggest that our country\u2019s problems start and end with Trump. It\u2019s not as easy for Cohen to admit that he was part of the problem before he ever met Trump \u2013 because if Cohen was willing to stand by a man who did and said these things for so long, we must question his own character.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen didn\u2019t have to witness the depth of Trump\u2019s depravity to know that he was helping an unsavory and bigoted person. Many of the sexual assault accusations, lawsuits alleging racial discrimination and financial misdeeds all predate Trump\u2019s candidacy and his presidency. Cohen wants to return to righteousness, but if he supported Trump throughout all the years, I have to question whether he truly understands the nature of righteousness.<\/p>\n<p>He willingly chose to remain loyal to a man who by Cohen\u2019s own admission said vile things about black people in Cohen\u2019s presence. He chose to cover for a man who has committed human rights crimes against the children of immigrants, who shuttered our government so he could build a destructive monument to white supremacy, and whose anti-immigrant rhetoric may have contributed to the slaughter of 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue. And Trump has done and will continue to do much more harm to the people of this country.<\/p>\n<p>Writer Elad Nehorai said that for him, \u201cteshuvah translates as a process, not an immediate result. The biggest myth that exists in America \u2013 because it\u2019s largely Christian \u2013 is that repentance is black and white \u2026 that you can be completely absolved by a simple act such as confessing to a priest or another authority. In Judaism, that\u2019s not how we see it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I am far from forgiving \u2013 of either Cohen or any of this administration\u2019s enablers.<\/p>\n<p>I am not particularly moved by Cohen\u2019s realization that he betrayed us by doing things he admits he always knew were wrong. But as more and more of Trump\u2019s former staffers inevitably come forward about his misdeeds, it makes me wonder how we will address those situations.<\/p>\n<p>Will we assume good intent from everyone who speaks out? Will we welcome them back into public service? Do we forgive those who have caused our society harm \u2013 whether they\u2019ve been caught (like Cohen) or whether they came forward willingly, like Omarosa Manigault-Newman?<\/p>\n<p>I think that as the Mueller investigation reaches its coda, we need to have these tough conversations about redemption.<\/p>\n<p>I hope that Cohen and his family remain safe from retaliation. I am glad he provided Congress with cogent evidence corroborating reports and suspicions of Trump\u2019s collusion with Russia and his illegal hush-money payments.<\/p>\n<p>And I hope that Cohen lives up to the words he spoke at the end of his statement:<br \/>\n\u201cToday, I get to decide the example I set for my children and how I attempt to change how history will remember me. I may not be able to change the past, but I can do right by the American people here today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cohen took the entire country one small step toward the light on Wednesday, and for that I am grateful.<\/p>\n<p>But I do not forgive Michael Cohen. For that, I will need to see that Cohen is truly committed to dismantling entire systems of oppression, not just speaking out against one person. We still have a long way to go.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"OP-ED%3A%20Why%20Michael%20Cohen%20hasn%E2%80%99t%20earned%20my%20forgiveness\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1781,8790,8795,9122,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47509,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47508\/revisions\/47509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}