The community center would be open to all Jews, but focused on Jews of color, and would build bridges both within the Jewish community and between Jews of color and other minorities. In 2020, Rishon and rapper Yitz Jordan (Y-Love) announced plans to create a Jewish Community Center specifically for Jews of color. He served as rabbi for Kehilat Ir Chadash, an Orthodox congregation in New City, New York. His writing focuses on racism within the Jewish community, and he has worked as a content manager for Bend The Arc, a progressive Jewish organization focused on social justice.
Rishon began blogging about his black and Jewish identities as MaNishtana in 2009. He attended James Madison High School and Brooklyn College, where he majored in English. Growing up, Shais felt alienated from the Jewish community due to his race and the treatment he received from other Jews. His father, Asher Rishon, converted to Judaism after meeting Shais' mother. According to him, his mother's ancestors have been practicing Jews since the 1780s. Rishon was born Febru in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish family associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
In 2014, he was included in The Jewish Week's "36 Under 36", an annual list of influential Jews under age 36. He has written for Tablet, Kveller, The Forward, Jewcy, and Hevria, as well as writing a semi-autobiographical novel under his pen name. Shais Rishon, also known by the pen name MaNishtana, is an African-American Orthodox rabbi, activist, and writer.
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