Brooklyn, NY – A year after being elected as the first Chasidic civil court judge in New York State and becoming the first Chasidic woman to hold public office in the United States, Judge Ruchie Freier continues to walk a tightrope that few have managed to navigate successfully.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Currently presiding as a night judge in the city’s criminal court system, Freier manages to maintain a delicate balance between her job, the volunteer women’s ambulance corps that she founded and serves on, and her roles as an Orthodox Jewish wife, mother and grandmother.
A New York Times takes a look at Freier’s multi-dimensional world, where she serves both as a voice for change and as an articulate emissary for the Chasidic world, doling out justice with the experienced eye of someone who has worked with troubled individuals and understands their predicaments, hoping to guide the low level defendants who appear before her in a more positive direction.
Through it all, Freier remains dedicated to her Torah values, praying nightly for guidance before taking the bench and creatively extending the definition of conformity without every compromising on the religious standards that have guided her throughout her life.
Read the full NYT article here
Kiddush hashem !!! Kol Hakavod !!!
Obviously there’s no problem with being a lawyer and being Hasidic. so why don’t we teach our kids English and math?
A kiddush Hashem.
what a kiddush hashem!
we always see footsteps OTD in the news always in a bad way about hasidim, rarely do we have such a positive news about hasidim in the media, kol hakovod.
She’s just a woman who doesn’t know her place.
A great story – I wonder how many hours sleep she gets.
But hey…you “real Jews” admonish me all the time that the NYT is all anti-Semitic fake news!
She’s may be the first Chasidic civil court judge in New York State, but not the first frum woman judge. My wife has been a federal administrative law judge for the past three years and her agency’s only frum judge. This is not an elected position but one appointed after a year-long selection process. We are Litvish, not Chasidic.
I’m positive that there are reactionaries on this board, both male and female, who still don’t feel that being a Chassidic female Judge is the “right” profession”, for her. Thhose are individuals who live in the 10th century, who can’t seem to accept the fact, that females should be in positions of authority, especially a frum female.