STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The Penn State community will have the opportunity to hear New York Supreme Court Judge Rachel “Ruchi” Freier speak on two occasions when she visits the University Park campus this weekend. Freier will speak at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 24, and at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, at the Rohr Chabad Jewish Center, 443 E. Waring Ave. in State College.
The event is hosted by Chabad of Penn State, and co-sponsored by the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Development, Penn State Law, UPAC (University Park Allocation Committee), the Jewish Studies Program and the Gender Equity Center at Penn State.
About the speaker
Freier is recognized as a role model for students interested in social justice, legal studies, gender equality, philanthropy and religion — her life tells the tale of how it is possible to achieve and thrive whilst staying fiercely dedicated to one’s values.
Raised in an orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, Freier attended religious schooling from elementary school through seminary. After starting her family and becoming a paralegal to support her husband during the beginning of their marriage, Freier attended Torou College, where she majored in political science and directed the Women’s Pre-Law Society. After graduating with honors, she attended Brooklyn Law School part-time so that she would have time to study while helping raise her six children. There, she interned for then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as Shelton Silver, former speaker of the New York State Assembly.
In 2016, Freier was elected as a civil court judge, making her the first Hasidic Jewish woman to be elected as a civil court judge in New York, and the first Hasidic woman to hold public office in U.S. history. She is currently assigned to Kings County Criminal Court, where she uses her religious and legal backgrounds to judge with compassion and integrity.
After graduating law school, Freier founded Chasdei Devorah and B’Derech, nonprofit organizations advocating for education and opportunity for adolescents in the Hasidic community. Further, she obtained her EMT license and helped found and direct Ezras Nashim, an all-woman emergency service that in 2017 was named "EMS agency of the year" by local emergency medical service councils.
For more info, contact Rabbi Nosson Meretsky at 814-777-2707 or email rabbi@psu.edu.