In 2019, Shaindy Weichman, an ex-Hasidic woman whose husband was granted custody of their son four years earlier, was further ordered by a family court judge not to expose her son to any activities that would violate Hasidic norms and customs.

But in 2021, an appellate judge reversed the ruling. The restrictions imposed on Shaindy by the lower court judge “impermissibly infringe on the noncustodial parent’s rights,” the appellate judge wrote. In other words, Shaindy was entitled to freedom of expression, even when her son was with her.

“I think it’s a major milestone for people who realize that the life they’ve been living doesn’t work for them,” Shaindy said in an interview with Shtetl.

Through their ruling, the appellate court restricted the ways in which Haredi parents could insist that their children continue to be raised religious even after the other parent chooses a different lifestyle. Since judges decide cases by precedent, Shaindy’s case had ripple effects across New York State’s entire Second Department, a division of the state appellate court system that encompasses Brooklyn, Rockland County, and Orange County — the parts of the state with the largest Haredi populations.

Now, Haredi leaders in Rockland have all but elected a family court judge who they hope will reverse this development.

In June, just two weeks before primary elections, Haredi leaders launched a campaign to urge Haredim to vote for candidate Chris Exias, suggesting that if he won, he would decide cases in a manner favorable to Haredi parents. Exias won the Democratic primary. With no opponent in Tuesday’s general election, he is almost certain to be elected to a 10-year term as a judge in Rockland County Family Court.

There are parts of the state where voters wouldn’t look twice at a family court judge election. But in Rockland, the campaign to elect Exias portrayed the election as having very high stakes. Rabbi David Niederman, one of the most influential Haredi leaders in New York State, campaigned enthusiastically for Exias — even though Niederman lives in Brooklyn, not Rockland County. Indeed, the rabbis supporting Exias knew just which buttons to press to get the Haredi vote out. Once they did so, his opponent barely stood a chance.

On election day, local residents were offered a free ride to the voting booth by calling the Haredi-owned car service Motty’s — which was especially helpful, since many Hasidic women are prohibited or discouraged from driving. That night, it became clear that Haredi leaders’ message had come across.

Over 98% of voters who live in Haredi areas had voted for Exias, according to Shtetl’s analysis of election results.

That figure likely represents over 2,000 Haredi voters. But why did they care so much, and why was their vote worth so much to leaders within Rockland County and beyond?

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The campaign to get Haredim to vote for Exias was multifaceted. It included, among other things, making financial contributions to the candidate, giving interviews on the Yiddish-language telephone hotline Kol Mevaser, publishing ads in Haredi magazines, and sending out a 12-page mailer to Rockland County’s Haredi residents, all of which made the election out to be highly consequential.

“We need not describe how catastrophic it is when judges are one of those despicable sorts who enjoy harassing sensible, religious people,” one ad said.

Rockland County legislator Aron Wieder, who is Hasidic, agreed. “You can be wealthy, you can be poor, you can be this or that, from this group or that group. No one is immune,” Wieder said on Kol Mevaser. “When you find yourself in this situation, may God have mercy if you don’t have the right people in the right positions.”

Another endorsement of Exias came from Rabbi Gershon Mendel Taub. “A judge who doesn't understand our needs, destroys children every single day,” he said on Kol Mevaser. “We end up tearing our hair out.”

Taub is the executive director at Lev Leyeled, a nonprofit organization that, according to its website, serves children from “broken homes,” including Haredi children whose parents have left the Haredi lifestyle. Taub stressed the importance of voting for the right judge by referring to situations he encountered at his organization.

According to the New York State Attorney General’s website, most nonprofit organizations, specifically those classified under Section 501(c)(3), are “absolutely prohibited from ‘participat[ing] in, or intervene[ing] in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.’” Taub did not immediately respond to Shtetl’s request for comment.

Ads in Haredi media outlets, which suggested that Exias would rule in favor of religious parents, highlighted two types of situations: divorces in which one parent has left the Haredi lifestyle, and those concerning allegations of abuse after a child suffers an injury requiring emergency treatment. Some of these ads didn’t say who paid for them — something campaign finance lawyers told Shtetl violated election law. Others were labeled “paid for by team ramapo.”

“We must be concerned, even if it’s a very small minority of children that will fall into the hands of a family court judge,” Niederman said in a Kol Mevaser interview.

Niederman is the executive director of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, a social services organization serving that neighborhood's Hasidic community. He expanded on his Kol Mevaser interview in comments to Shtetl. “I expressed my support to a candidate — in my private capacity — based on what I heard of his record as being competent, fair minded, compassionate, understanding and sensitive to all communities and will work for the best interest of all children and families,” he said.

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Howard Graubard, an election lawyer in Brooklyn who also does political consulting, wondered why Haredi leaders supported Exias so fervently.

“Maybe it's just like, we want to show we have a certain amount of power to determine the election so that other politicians will get the message and do our bidding,” Graubard said, suggesting the issue is broader than just family matters. “It's about showing that our community can make or break a candidate, and we’ll do it however we can.”

According to data from the New York State Board of Elections, Exias received financial contributions from a variety of notable figures, some of whom don’t appear to live in Rockland County. Brock Pierce, a non-Jewish cryptocurrency entrepreneur with many Hasidic fans, contributed $2,500. Another $2,500 came from Pierce’s chief of staff, Yidel Perlstein, the chair of Brooklyn Community Board 12, which covers Borough Park, a mostly Haredi neighborhood in Brooklyn.

According to public records, another $4,500 came from Howard Rothschild, the president of the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, an organization that represents large real estate companies in disputes with their employees. But when he was reached by phone, Rothschild, who lives in New Jersey, told Shtetl he had never heard of Exias and had no idea how the donation got made in his name — although he acknowledged that the address shown on the Board of Elections website really was his.

Other financial backers seemed to support Exias by donating to Team Ramapo, the political committee that paid for some of the Yiddish-language advertisements. Team Ramapo was founded in 2019 to reelect Rockland County politicians Michael Specht, Brendel Logan-Charles, and Michael Rossman.

Real estate investor Daryl Hagler, who lives in Rockland, gave Team Ramapo $25,000. Hagler was sued earlier this year by New York Attorney General Letitia James for his alleged role in a nursing home fraud scheme that led to increased risk of death, according to The Real Deal.

Real estate developer Joseph Kazarnovsky of Monsey gave Team Ramapo $14,500. Kazarnovsky is the former president of Yeshiva of Spring Valley, an Orthodox school in Rockland. He has also donated to Chabad and the Orthodox Union.

Rockland County District Attorney Tom Walsh’s campaign contributed $400 to Exias’s campaign. Former New York State Supreme Court justice Robert Berliner, Exias’s former employer, contributed $100. Exias used to be a clerk for Berliner, who resigned from his role after an investigation showed that he engaged in prohibited political activity.

Despite the circumstances surrounding Berliner’s resignation, the ads that appeared in Haredi media touted Exias’s experience working for him, referring to Berliner as “our beloved Supreme Court justice.”

Speaking on Kol Mevaser, Wieder, the Rockland County legislator, also praised Exias for his relationship with Berliner.

Exias “had an apprenticeship under Judge Berliner,” Wieder said. “Many activists, therefore, have had some interaction with him. There’s already an established relationship with him. We know who he is.”

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Even if Haredi leaders really did have multiple motives for advocating for Exias, as Graubard suggested, it’s not hard to imagine why family court is important to Haredi leaders. Footsteps, a nonprofit organization that has supported over 2,300 people leaving Haredi communities, says that about one third of its members are parents who joined Footsteps as they were “grappling with redefining their relationships with their spouses and children.”

Divorce lawyer James Sexton said he’s represented hundreds of Haredi spouses in Rockland and Orange counties in the past 15 years. That includes some high-profile cases, including that of education activist Beatrice Weber, whose ex-husband was represented by Sexton.

In addition to the Weichman case, Sexton said that one other Haredi case also established new precedents in the region: that of Chavie Weisberger, a Hasidic woman who lost custody of her children after she came out as a lesbian — and then reattained it in 2017 after appealing the lower court’s decision.

Despite the ads’ suggestions, Sexton said he believes Exias will honor these precedents. “That’s the guidebook that people like Exias are supposed to follow and have to follow and will follow,” he said. “If they don’t, they’ve got people, organizations, the appellate division, and the court of appeals all watching.”

Niederman, the Williamsburg leader, emphasized a different concern in electing a family court judge, in addition to his concern about parents who become less observant: frivolous allegations of child abuse.

“The concerns about overpolicing by the child welfare systems, especially against misunderstood minorities, are broad based and well documented,” he told Shtetl, citing articles in the New York Times and the Columbia Journal of Race and Law. 

“Unfortunately, our community is no different, in my experience,” Niederman added. “I have witnessed many cases of children and families being entangled in the system for frivolous reports, stereotypes and miscommunications. Missteps by the system destroys children and families.”

Exias did not respond to inquiries from Shtetl.

Wieder did not respond to an inquiry from Shtetl. Neither did Pierce, Perlstein, Hagler, or Walsh. Kazarnovsky could not be reached for comment.