Quai James Does Teshuva At Jewish Soup Kitchen

Image by Courtesy of Masbia
Quai James is setting an example for how to move on after making a mistake. The 25-year-old from Yonkers who posted a viral video mocking and berating a young Hasidic boy, along with a subsequent, equally viral apology, spent some time volunteering at Masbia, a Jewish soup kitchen.
Five hundred people lined up to collect emergency food packages.
“I myself reported the original clip to Twitter,” said Alexander Rapaport, Masbia executive director. “But I have something to learn from Quai, and that is how to sincerely apologize. I am really humbled by him.
There is a Jewish concept of ‘teshuva” that means repentance, we hope everyday to get to a level of true teshuva and how to full heartedly take back something we said or did. I have something to learn from Quai. How to sincerely apologize and take it back to an even better place than it was before.”
James said he was also learning a lot by saying sorry and giving back.
“I had a wonderful experience today and would not mind helping out other places,” he said.
Today I’m In Bk Giving A Helping Hand To The Masbia Soup Kitchen ???? @Eats4U Got About 70 people lined up outside so far ? pic.twitter.com/yUTATcF8mm
— Quai James (@quaijames) May 17, 2018
Shira Feder is a writer at the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected]
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Opinion Is this new documentary giving voice to American Jewish anguish — or simply stoking fear?
- 4
Opinion Mike Huckabee said there’s ‘no such thing as a Palestinian.’ It’s worth thinking about what that means
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Think every Palestinian in Gaza is Hamas? This week’s protests prove you’re wrong
-
Opinion A Palestinian Oscar-winner’s arrest shocked the world. For these Jewish activists, it was terrifyingly normal
-
Opinion In the Trump administration and Israel, a grotesque display of virility coupled with a loss of humanity
-
Fast Forward Cornell’s new Jewish president says he is ‘very comfortable with where Cornell is currently’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.