Ahuva Gray (née Delores Gray) is a writer on religion and

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

ist. She is a former

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

minister who converted to

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

and chronicled her changing beliefs in the book ''My Sister, the Jew'', published in 2001.

Biography

Gray is

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

and was born to a Baptist working-class family in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. She is a relative of baseball player Lorenzo Gray. Gray worked for 23 years as a

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

, living in Los Angeles. She came a Baptist minister. She began to doubt

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

when she found what she believed were discrepancies in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

. Her discovery prompted a process of searching for a renewed faith. Eventually she found and studied Judaism; Gray believed that the Torah made the most sense. In 1996, she gave up her position as a

Christian minister In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidanc ...

and completed conversion to become an Orthodox Jew. She took the name of Ahuva. She has written a book about this journey, entitled ''My Sister, the Jew'' (2001). Since the late 20th century, Gray has lived in

Bayit VeGan Bayit VeGan ( he, בית וגן, lit. ''House and Garden'') is a neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem. Bayit VeGan is located to the east of Mount Herzl and borders the neighborhoods of Kiryat HaYovel and Givat Mordechai. History Bronze Age A 4,0 ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

.http://ou.org.s3.amazonaws.com/pdf/ja/5766/summer66/34_36.pdf

References

Bibliography

*''My Sister the Jew'' Philipp Feldheim Inc, (2001)

External links

* http://www.jewishmag.com/64mag/ahuva/ahuva.htm * http://www.aish.com/ci/a/48943156.html * http://www.jewishjournal.com/community_briefs/article/from_baptist_to_beshert_20010406/ * http://www.aish.com/societyWork/arts/From_Mississippi_to_Mount_Sinai.asp {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Ahuva American Orthodox Jews Converts to Judaism from Baptist denominations Converts to Orthodox Judaism Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American emigrants to Israel Israeli people of African-American descent African-American Jews African-American former Christians Jewish women writers Flight attendants American women writers African-American women writers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women