One of the first things you observe about Assemblyman Gary Schaer (Democrat—36th District), when you hear him talk at a public event, is that he defies expectations or easy classifications.

You might expect someone who’s served in the New Jersey State Assembly for 14 years, and risen to the position of deputy speaker and vice chair of the influential Appropriations Committee, to seem gregarious, glib and self-confident. Yet the Assemblyman comes off soft-spoken and deliberate, parsing his comments and offering honest responses to questions, even though he’s aware that some answers won’t please the people asking the questions.

As someone celebrated as the first and still only Orthodox Jew elected to the New Jersey State Assembly, you might think that Assemblyman Schaer is more or less fully aligned with the views and votes that the Orthodox community see as appropriate. Yet you quickly learn that he takes a far more considered and nuanced approach.

Assemblyman Schaer takes justified pride in the fact that he managed to pass three laws in his first term in office of direct benefit to the Orthodox community, and other faith communities—a law mandating that New Jersey hospitals offer meals that meet the dietary requirements of different religious groups, a law directing that every state funded college and university respect the religious needs of their students and a law that employers must show respect for the religious needs of their workers. At the same time, he noted that he took considerable flak for his vote to abstain, rather than oppose, when a bill to legalize gay marriage was considered by the Assembly.

These characteristics of the assemblyman, and others, were evident in a candid talk he presented to the Orthodox Forum of Edison/Highland Park on the topic, “An Unorthodox Profession,” in which he discussed his professional and political journey to serve in the New Jersey State Assembly. The event was held on Saturday night, December 21, at Congregation Ohr Torah in Edison.

Assemblyman Schaer is no newcomer to politics, having served since 1995 on the Passaic City Council and 22 years as council president. He’s also taken on a number of civics leadership roles in Passaic such as director of Passaic’s Urban Enterprise Zone, commissioner on the Board of Education of the Passaic County Technical Institute, and commissioner of the Passaic Housing Authority.

He noted that while he spends considerable time in Trenton, averaging 2-3 days a week, it is his legislative office that is one of the most active in the state; it receives and addresses an average of 900 to 1200 resident concerns each year. His legislative and constituent services staff members are very well-regarded and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy recruited three of them to serve in prominent roles on their staff.

Assemblyman Schaer spoke with passion about his efforts to address the security concerns of the Jewish community. He shared that the first bill he advanced, to provide New Jersey with security aid to yeshivas and other non-public schools, provided $25 per student for security. In the last year the New Jersey State Legislature increased security aid to $150 per student, a cost of $22.6 million to the state. And in the coming legislative year, he and other cosponsors hope to increase security aid to $250 per student, a cost of $37.6 million to the state.

He emphasized that this progress was made possible by building strong coalitions with educational leaders in the Catholic, Christian, Islamic and Jewish communities. He stated a few times that in order for the Jewish community to advance its interests in Trenton, “We need friends,” and pointed to his work on a recently passed law to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers licenses as an example of such an effort.

Expanding on the topic of security, Assemblyman Schaer stated that in the current climate of concern after the massacre in Jersey City, he is not very concerned about security in synagogues and yeshivot because he knows that most of them are working diligently on this. His concern is with Jews walking on public streets to shul and going to Judaic bookstores, kosher supermarkets and restaurants, because municipal police departments do not have the staff to offer regular coverage of these areas. He noted that after the Jersey City incident, his office received five or six calls asking if it was safe for Jews to walk to shul that Shabbat.

In a question and answer period an audience member asked him if he was aware of the contention in Highland Park with the Borough Council, regarding a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism and BDS that did not pass in the fall. He replied that he was aware of it and asked: “Why are we doing this? What are we trying to achieve? It’s bringing things down we don’t need. … I think it’s overreach, and we need to do more outreach.”

Another audience member asked about the New Jersey State Legislature’s consideration of a bill to remove religious exemptions for childhood vaccines; the bill passed in the State Assembly and did not advance to a vote in the Senate. The Assemblyman said that while he believes that vaccines are very important, he thinks that the current legislation overreaches and that New Jersey has already reached a 94% herd immunity rate, which is considered safe by many medical authorities. He shared a concern that, under the current legislation, people who choose to not vaccinate their children could be ostracized from schools and public areas and this might lead to increased social divisions.

Audience members spoke highly of the assemblyman after the talk.

“The speaker opened our eyes on how the Orthodox community needs to interact with the New Jersey government and the world and he showed why we need more Orthodox Jews in government,” said Ed Norin of Highland Park. “His ideas on bridge-building and making friends are very instructive.”

“I admire his collaboration with different ethnicities and found his efforts to find common ground quite informative,” said Barbara Frisch of Edison. “I try to follow a similar approach in my work as a criminal defense attorney and as a leader in the New Jersey State Bar Association.”

Miryam Gordon, who works in Holocaust education and lives locally, said: “He offered interesting insight into a visibly frum Jew in New Jersey politics, at a time of rising anti-Semitism, and his message of the need for unity in the Jewish community was very valuable.”