Our stories give us hope in challenging times. Support JWA by Dec. 31.
Close [x]

Show [+]

Arva Gray

Content type
Collection

Arva Davis Gray

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Arva Davis Gray on June 25 and August 9, 2001, in Bellevue, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words project. Gray recounts her upbringing as a poor Mormon in Utah, her journey of rejecting the Mormon church and embracing Judaism, her family life, volunteer work, and personal challenges.

Arva Gray

A Mormon convert to Judaism, Arva Davis Gray was a leader in the Seattle Jewish community and a self-described “kitchen Jew” who served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, as a member of the Boards of many local and national Jewish organizations, and was a founder of Bellevue’s Temple B‘Nai Torah. Trained as a nurse, she married Dr. Bernard Gray, with whom she raised two children from his previous marriage and two of their own. Arva spiced her life with Sephardic and Askenazic cooking learned from friends and neighbors, and with wisdom grounded in Judaism and a broad, humane outlook. Arva also devoted her energies to her four children and to her grandchildren. Arva Gray died on June 14, 2010.

May Podcast: A Conversion Story for Shavuot

Jordan Namerow

Tomorrow starts the festival of Shavuot, a time of spiritual liberation that commemorates the ancient Israelites receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. The holiday is also linked to the story of Ruth, a Moabite woman, and her relationship with her Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi. As recounted in the Book of Ruth, traditionally read on Shavuot, after Naomi and her daughters-in-law Ruth and Orpah all become widows, Naomi urges the two younger women to leave her and find new husbands.

Topics: Shavuot

Donate

Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women.

donate now

Get JWA in your inbox

Read the latest from JWA from your inbox.

sign up now