Ahuvah marvels at the memory of that evening. “There were so many people waiting to see Rav Elyashiv, I assumed we were going to be there all night. So I settled into a chair and began saying Tehillim. Suddenly the door opened and a tall gentleman motioned for us to come directly in. All Sally could say was ‘Ahuvah, how did you do that?’” She later learned that Rebbetzin Auerbach, who visited her father daily, had notified him that Ahuvah would be arriving with a seminary student. Sally received her bracha and today lives with her husband and children in Israel.
Ahuvah merited accompanying hundreds of seminary girls to Rav Elyashiv’s home over a fourteen-year period and she is happy to report that they have all married. “They didn’t necessarily meet their bashert in Israel but would e-mail me once they became a kallah. I was always excited when I received the wedding invitation to their chuppah.” As for her bashert? “My time will come.”
It is this generosity of spirit that compelled Ahuvah to write her latest book, In Search of Hidden Treasures: Stories of Faith, Love, and Hashgacha Pratis. During her travels she has heard many miraculous stories at a variety of Shabbos tables throughout the world and she was eager to share these personal stories of triumph with a wider audience.
“The focus of this book is about the Chagim. As a convert, I feel a special connection to Rosh Hashanah. Just as the ancestors of the Jewish people were slaves in Egypt, my Jewish neshamah was enslaved in a non- Jewish body. On Rosh Hashanah I remember my personal exodus from slavery to freedom.”
Eighteen years ago Ahuvah Gray changed her name and her mazal when she arrived in Israel, blessed to be living among the Torah scholars and Sages in Jerusalem. Reflecting on the profound influence gedolim like Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, z”tl have had on her extraordinary journey she acknowledges, “As a result of observing their lives on a daily basis, I am a recipient of their Torah treasures that have awoken the seeds in my own neshamah and enhanced my path to Judaism.”
To learn more about the life and teachings of this devoted bas Yisrael please visit her website Ahuvahgray.com.