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Jewish Discovery Center to host gangster-turned-Orthodox Jew for annual Shabbat event

Jewish Discovery Center to host gangster-turned-Orthodox Jew for annual Shabbat event

Yahoo13-02-2025

At 21 years old, Yehudah Pryce was a gang member facing 24 years in a maximum security California state prison for armed robbery.
At 42 years old, Pryce will fly from the Los Angeles area to Lackawanna County this week to talk about his path from gang life to Orthodox Judaism at the Jewish Discovery Center's second annual community Shabbat Dinner and Inspirational Lecture at 6 p.m. Friday, 216 Miller Road, Clarks Summit.
Born to a Sri Lankan mother and a Jamaican father, the Orange County native felt racial tensions from a young age and lacked a sense of belonging, drawing him to gang life.
'I found people who did not care about all the rules of society,' Pryce said in a phone interview Wednesday. 'They just happened to be gang members and drug dealers and all that.'
That led Pryce to becoming a dedicated gangster in his youth, where he 'made a living off robbing drug dealers.' His house was shot up, his mom's vehicle was shot, and he spent time in and out of juvenile hall.
By the time he was 19, Pryce was arrested and booked into county jail for robbery, and at 21, a judge sentenced him to 24 years in prison — four years for robbery with 10-year modifiers for displaying a gun and for committing the crime to benefit a gang.
'I just assumed that an early death or a life in jail was going to just be part of my story,' Pryce said. 'I was a dedicated gangster, and that's just what happened.'
After his sentencing, he was transferred to Pelican State Bay Prison — a supermax facility on the Northwestern corner of California — where he eventually began to study religion, though he wrote it off as 'opium for the masses.' The prison hired a rabbi, and enjoying arguments, Pryce decided to debate the man.
'He essentially said, 'Look, if you look throughout history, Judaism has worked for the Jewish people,'' Pryce said.
That resonated with him.
'They had a perception of God, and then they decided to enter into a relationship with God, and that created Jewish identity,' Pryce said, explaining that perception and adherence to traditions allowed the Jewish people to maintain their religion, identity, language and culture for thousands of years. 'To me, the Jewish people became proof that God existed, and then I wanted to get to know this God of the Jews.'
Pryce started to voraciously read books on Judaism in prison, teaching himself how to read and pray in Hebrew while memorizing Hebrew scriptures. After a transfer to a lower security prison, he became the lead Jewish chapel clerk for six years, and while at that prison, he met his future wife on Instagram using a contraband cellphone.
He was released early due to overcrowding in 2018 at the age of 35 after 16 years of incarceration.
Prior to his release, he reached out to a rabbi and shared his story of juvenile delinquency to Judaism, and the rabbi told him the community would love to have him when he got out of prison. He entered a formal Orthodox Jewish conversion program and eventually moved to Irvine, California. He was only earning $10.50 an hour as a dish washer, but someone in the community rented a room to him.
'I was able to enter a community,' Pryce said. 'It's my first time I actually experienced like a true community. … They didn't judge me by my background.'
He completed his conversion to Judaism in June 2020 and married his wife, who is also Jewish. He also earned his doctorate of social work, which he uses as a senior director of a nonprofit organization that provides rehabilitative programming for inmates and people outside of prison.
Rabbi Benny Rapoport of the Jewish Discovery Center said his brother runs a school in Orange County and knew Pryce and his children. So, Rapoport said his brother called and told him about Pryce's story.
'When I saw a photo of his bright smile, right away, I knew that this is a story from darkness to light,' Rapoport said.
The rabbi invited Pryce to speak at the discovery center for its second Shabbaton, or Shabbat experience, he said. The Shabbat, or Sabbath, dinner is part of a project the center started in honor of Rapoport's late mother-in-law, Lea Slavin, called Lea's Legacy.
'She really loved the Sabbath, and her Shabbat table was absolutely delightful with flowers and food and people and drink and warm words of Torah messages and inspiration and stories,' Rapoport said. 'Friday night dinner is a very special time of Jewish community enrichment.'
Under Lea's Legacy, Rapoport said they built a kitchen in her honor called Lea's Kitchen, they hold a women's monthly learning program, women's baking, and now for the second year, the Shabbat dinner and lecture, he said. The dinner is $18 for adults and open to the public, Rapoport said.
Pryce's message transcends religious groups, he said.
'The message is for all people of all kinds — that no one's life is easy, no one's life is smooth. It's always filled with ups and downs of various sizes and challenges,' Rapoport said. 'Dr. Pryce is a living example of how to overcome and not just survive the challenges but to thrive and continue to grow.'
When he speaks Friday, Pryce said he hopes people experience a deeper appreciation of Judaism and the Jewish experience, what it can do in the world and how it transforms lives.
'I just hope people walk away inspired,' Pryce said.
To RSVP for the dinner, email info@jewishepa.com or call/WhatsApp 570-587-3300. For information, visit jewishnepa.com.

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S.F. cafe endures worst vandalism to date after ICE protesters descend upon Mission
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time4 hours ago

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S.F. cafe endures worst vandalism to date after ICE protesters descend upon Mission

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According to security cameras, a faction of the large group of protesters who descended upon the Mission District to oppose the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and President Donald Trump's decision to deploy the California National Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles — broke into the cafe just before 10 p.m. and graffitied all around its exterior. But unlike tags that had targeted ICE and the police, like the ones that were sprayed all over the McDonald's at 24th and Mission streets, the messaging at the corner of 16th and Mission streets seemed to focus specifically on Yekutiel. The vandals also smashed through a large window to enter the cafe, though it was unclear whether anything was taken. Among graffiti that read 'Free Palestine' and 'Kill Cops,' there were other, more pointed words for Yekutiel, who is Jewish. The cafe owner, who hosts civic and political events at Manny's has been vocal about his 'complicated' feelings about Israel and wish for a cease-fire in Gaza. 'F— Manny,' one of the tags read. Others said 'Die Zio,' an apparent truncating of the word Zionist, and 'The only good settler is a dead 1.' 'It was like a crime scene,' he said, referring to the inside of the restaurant Tuesday morning. 'Glass everywhere, shattered on the floor. And then I came back here in the back in the dark and was just sobbing.' In an interview with the Chronicle in the back of his cafe, where on Monday night the private event had continued on despite the break-in attempt, Yekutiel broke down in sobs. He said he was grateful to Mayor Daniel Lurie, who visited him at the cafe before it opened Tuesday morning. The mayor held his hand and consoled him, Yekutiel said. In a press briefing Tuesday morning, Lurie spoke generally of the vandalism by protesters, but did not specifically reference Manny's. The mayor's office later declined to comment on the vandalism of Manny's. 'Vandalizing local businesses with hateful language, damaging property is unacceptable,' Lurie said in his briefing. 'When that happens, law enforcement will take action.' Lurie characterized Monday night's demonstration as 'significantly calmer' than Sunday's despite being 'notably larger.' During the chaotic standoffs between police and protesters that injured two officers Sunday night, more than 150 people were arrested. All but one were cited and released. Yekutiel said he had not been contacted by Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who represents the Mission District. Fielder's office did not return requests for comment for the Chronicle. What was all more baffling — and frightening — to Yekutiel was that he had advocated for and attended Monday's protest against ICE, he said. Over the seven years Manny's has been open, the cafe has been targeted with anti-Israel graffiti numerous times, including last year on the eve of the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Yekutiel, who hosts civic and political events at his cafe, has been vocal about his 'complicated' feelings about Israel. He has also expressed support for a cease-fire. The vandalism on Monday night, though, was the most extreme the cafe has endured, he said. 'I wish I could sit down with these people and say, 'You got the wrong guy,'' he said. 'But just choosing to attack my business and my windows and say that I should die only affirms the claim, which is true in many ways, that part of this is just a hatred of Jews.' For years, he said, he has empathized with the people who have vandalized his cafe. 'There's a person that you can undo, that you can defame and boycott and attack if you're feeling rage,' he said, explaining why he believed he was being targeted. 'Even though I'm not Israeli. Even though I don't represent Israel. Even though I haven't done anything that, I believe, deserves that rage.' Now, it's just anti-Semitism, he said. Outside the cafe Tuesday morning, two young men crossing the street paused to look at the corner. 'Look, they f— that shit up!' one of them said to the other, as the two laughed and walked on. Inside the cafe, nearly every seat was occupied by people drinking coffee, working on their laptops or discussing the damages throughout the morning. Two San Francisco Police sergeants came by to interview Yekutiel and a local rabbi stopped by for a coffee. Just before 1 p.m., some of the patrons were jolted by the sound of someone from the street screaming expletives into the cafe. The back of the cafe was cordoned off as workers worked on the window that had been broken. Sprinklings of glass glimmered on a velvet armchair. For a few minutes, an upbeat song began playing over the speakers, until Yekutiel asked the baristas to turn it down. They were just trying to lighten the mood, they said. He said the mood didn't need to be light. It wasn't a happy moment, he said, and asked them to turn the music off.

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