Brooklyn's Rachel Freier Will Be State's First Female Chasidic Civil Court Judge

SOUTH BROOKLYN, NY — Lawyer and community activist Rachel Freier has become the first Chasidic woman elected as a Civil Court judge in New York State, according to reports.

Freier was elected Tuesday in Kings County's 5th judicial district, which covers Kensington, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace, and other Brooklyn communities.

Unofficial results showed Freier winning 4,730 votes, or nearly 41 percent of those cast. Jill Epstein finished second, with Morton M. Avigdor finishing third. Multiple outlets covering the Orthodox Jewish community reported that Freier will be the first Chasidic woman to hold the post.

According to her campaign website, Freier is an attorney and mother of six who helped found the all-female EMT response group Ezras Nashim, which serves Boro Park.

“My mother always said, ‘You can do anything you want as long as it’s not illegal, immoral or against the Torah,'” Freier told Kings County Politics earlier this year, explaining why she moved ahead with Ezras Nashim despite some community objections.

“Sometimes I had to take on the establishment, but I did so always remaining within the community,” Freier said. “People have been trying to do an ambulance service for women for 30 years. I was warned to stay out of it, but I took my mother with me and we have a large group of volunteers now.”

The race was watched closely by judicial observers. A New York Daily News editorial published on Monday endorsed Freier in a piece that also attacked the ethics of Epstein and Avigdor, whom they labeled an "ethically vacant lawyer" backed by the Democratic establishment.

Pictured at top: Rachel Freier. Image courtesy of Freier campaign.