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| Ruchie Freier |
What happens when a female attorney who is both an observant Jew and dedicated civic activist challenges Hasidic Borough Park's male hegemony by running for a judgeship against a politically-connected orthodox male attorney?
Outlier judicial candidate Rachel “Ruchie’ Freier, who faces off with Mordy Avigdor in a September 13 Primary for a Civil Court judgeship in Brooklyn's
Fifth Judicial District, is about to find out.
The politically-connected Avigdor has successfully argued a case before the Supreme Court; worked for several big non-profits, and staffed for Congressional Representatives Anthony Weiner and Yvette Clarke.
Avigdor's supporters see Freier as a female rebel who has needlessly provoked the male hierarchy by forming all-female volunteer ambulance company Ezras Nashim, rival of the all-male volunteer ambulance service Hatzalah, "crown jewel" of the Hasidic community.
Freier's Ezras Nashim has both earned her the respect of the orthodox community and angered the politically-connected Hatzalah, making her race against Avigdor an uphill battle.
Avigdor is said to have the backing of City Council Member David Greenfield and State Senator Simcha Felder. He will also likely be endorsed by Assembly Member Dov Hikind, said to fear pushback by the powerful Satmar sect if he backs Freier.
Freier, who attended law school part-time and passed the bar exam while parenting her six children, credits her supportive parents, who are proud of her accomplishments, for her self-determination.
This isn't the first time that Freier, a real estate lawyer, has taken on Borough Park's orthodox male establishment. She also helped found B’Derech, an alternative yeshiva for young orthodox men who aren't making it in the traditional system that provides an alternative curriculum, including GED and vocational programming.
Although the male-dominated orthodox community eventually embraced B'Derech, Freier's Ezras Nashim, established six years ago to provide alternative ambulance service for Orthodox women who prefer not to receive emergency gynecological or obstetrical services from men, still faces male hostility.
Freier doesn't see herself as a rebel so much as a problem-solver working within the confines of her faith to make things happen for her community. Orthodox women in Borough Park had been trying for 30 years to create an all-female ambulance service before the persistent Freier and her mother, despite male opposition, succeeded in building a cadre of women ambulance volunteers.
By solving this kind of longstanding problems within her community, Freier has built a following among orthodox women. One admirer, Rachel Mayer, called Freier "an impact person": a woman who, in addition to raising her children and making a living, has dedicated her life to giving back to her community.
To have a woman like that as a judge, Mayer said, is something the people would want.
The article from Kings County Politics.
