NYC GOP hopes Rabbi David Hirsch can upend Queens race

A rabbi running for an open Assembly seat in Queens thinks he’s the one to lead the GOP to the promised land.

Orthodox Rabbi David Hirsch will face off against Democrat Sam Berger next month in a north-central Queens special election and insisted his background makes him the chosen candidate.

“I think it gives me certain insights on a variety of issues, particularly those regarding religious freedoms and sensitivity for all faiths,” Hirsch, 34, told The Post.

Hirsch was ordained in 2019 after three years of study at Yeshivas Ohr HaChaim in Kew Gardens.

If elected he would be the first rabbi to ever be elected to the Assembly.

Brooklyn State Sen. Simcha Felder is also a rabbi.

“It gives you a new way of looking at things and how to break it down and find a solution,” he said of his rabbinical studies.

Hirsch said if elected he planned to join a synagogue in Albany and would be prepared to minister to his fellow lawmakers.

“If anyone wants that I would be more than glad to offer,” he said, adding that he took lawmaking inspiration from Moses in the book of Exodus.

“Moses takes the advice to take 70 people to help him judge the people. You cannot concentrate too much power. That is kind of a good way to manage a government to make sure there is proper representation and feedback,” he said.

Hirsch, who is not a practicing rabbi and earns his living as an independent education policy consultant, said his top priorities would be crime, the migrant crisis, and education.

“I want to replace cashless bail and replace it with proportional bail, which is set based on the severity of crime and number of offenses,” Hirsch said. “We can’t have the catch and release system we have now.”

The seat opened up last month after Democratic Assemblyman Dan Rosenthal resigned to take a role with the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York and Gov. Hochul called for a special election to be held on Sept. 12.

The district is more than 30% Asian and 35% white, with a significant number of religious Jews.

Team Hirsch said they had raised “several thousand dollars” already since opening up their campaign committee earlier this month.

Berger, who is also Jewish, is a 25-year-old law school graduate from St. John’s University in Queens and has received the backing of Rosenthal.

The outgoing Assemblyman has been calling labor and advocacy groups to help keep the seat in Democratic hands, Politico reported in July.

The north-central Queens enclave went for President Biden in 2020, but former GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin won nearly 56% of district voters in his contest against Gov. Hochul in 2022.

The area includes GOP strongholds like Whitestone and Flushing Meadow Park.

“David Hirsch is an extraordinary candidate for this State Assembly seat,” Zeldin, himself the grandson of an Orthodox rabbi, told The Post.