Doc Star of the Month: Judge Ruchie Freier, Paula Eiselt's '93Queen'

As a secular Jew who resided for over a decade in pre-Girls Brooklyn, I'm not sure which Williamsburg community proved more inscrutable to my eyes — hipster or Hasidic. Both appeared isolated in secret echo-chambered societies, living blocks away — and worlds apart — from one another. And the notion of a feminist Hasid would strike me as outlandish as a hipster sporting payot.

Enter Rachel "Ruchie" Freier to upend my preconceived notions. Freier is the pigeonhole-avoiding star of filmmaker Paula Eiselt's 93Queen, a fascinating look at America’s very first all-female EMT corps—started in the heart of Borough Park, Brooklyn, home to one of the world's largest communities of Hasidic Jews. Freier, one of the founders of this untraditional mobile medical service (dubbed "Ezras Nashim," or "women who help"), is simultaneously a deeply religious family woman wedded to a strict faith, and a practicing lawyer unafraid to stand up for a Hasidic woman's right not to, as one of her EMT colleagues puts it, "ever be too embarrassed to call for help."

Needless to say, Documentary is thrilled that the incredibly busy Freier — whose bio now includes the distinction of being "the first Hasidic Jewish woman to be elected as a civil court judge in New York State, and the first Hasidic woman to hold public office in United States history" — found time during Rosh Hashanah preparations to answer a few wide-ranging questions via email.

93Queen, an IDA Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund grantee, airs September 17 on PBS' POV.

To read my interview visit Documentary magazine.