Jon Gosselin Repents To Rabbi, Public For His Sins

Things are getting truly surreal. Last night, Jon Gosselin sat down with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach at the West Side Synagogue in New York City to discuss "The Ethical Challenges and Moral Responsibility of Celebrity." Wowzers, what an apt panelist. But could this really be more than damage control for the recent "mantrum" accusations thrown out by girlfriend Hailey Glassman?

In this forum, open to the public, Jon spoke about his 'intoxication with celebrity,' admitted to having lost his 'moral compass,' expressed a desire to seek forgiveness from Kate, and touched on his troubled relationship with Hailey.

While it is not clear who approached whom "to spread their message" on this public stage, we do know thanks to a post-event interview with Entertainment Tonight that J-Goss felt coming clean "was the righteous thing to do." And that the experience "seemed to open up the doors to my emotions, which is a rarity because I don't talk about my emotions too much." Hmmmm...

"I want to let the world know that I am going to change," he said, "but my actions will speak louder than words." Well, John, from your mouth to God's ears.

Here are some of the highlights:

On being misunderstood:
"I think I'm just misunderstood. I'm not a fame seeker. Everyday I look in the mirror and I wonder why I'm famous. I don't sing. I don't dance. I'm not a Nobel Peace Prizewinner. I just had eight kids and I had a show on TLC."

"I'm a human being and I'm not to be treated as a character."

On his transgressions:
"Half the stuff I've done, if I look at my moral compass, I shouldn't have done. I know that but I did it anyway. It's like fame canceled out conviction."

On Kate Gosselin & forgiveness:
"I want to apologize to Kate in private. I'll apologize to her for openly having relationships in the public eye. That was a huge mistake, because if she would've done that to me, I would have been extremely pissed off. Not because our relationship is over, it's almost like a stab in the back. And now that I think about it, it was a very wrong thing to do. I definitely regret it."

"It is hard for me to ask to be forgiven from someone who might never forgive me. I am saying this now to Kate, 'I am sorry for doing the things that I did'."