Meet Chaya Hinda Allen

It Takes a Village

Liverpool is a tiny Jewish community — quintessential small-town living.

That’s where I got my first experience in how communities work. My father was the treasurer of the local cheder, my mother raised funds to support Israel, and my aunt was the treasurer for the local community center, which was the hub of our lives. I starred in plays there from the age of six, and was either a camper or counselor there each summer. As a teen, I was a representative on its Board of Governors.

After seminary, I stayed in Israel and settled there. My young family was one of the first English-speaking families to move to Beitar. I worked for a seminary while my husband learned.

Realizing that the English-speaking women were lonely and disconnected, the rav of the neighborhood asked me to form a Neshei, so they’d have a support network. After I experienced a minor medical crisis — my fifth child was hospitalized at three weeks with a double ear infection — I saw how difficult these emergencies could be for women without family support, so we branched out to helping families in crisis, creating a fund to help them with meals and childcare.