Eish­es Chay­il (woman of val­or) is a pseu­do­nym cho­sen by Judy Brown when Hush was first pub­lished because of feared back­lash from her com­mu­ni­ty. Since pub­li­ca­tion, Judy’s iden­ti­ty has been revealed and she has left the Chas­sidic com­mu­ni­ty. Judy is a direct descen­dant of the major founders of and lead­ers in the Chas­sidic world. She holds a mas­ter’s degree in cre­ative writ­ing and has worked as a jour­nal­ist for sev­er­al inter­na­tion­al Ortho­dox newspapers.