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Reflecting on decades of teaching at Rutgers University, professor emeritus Gordon Schochet was able to describe his career in a few short sentences.

"You have to start with what you know," Schochet told The Jewish State in an interview July 5. "If I force you to forget what you know, you'll fight all the new stuff I teach you. You'll absorb what you learn relative to what you know -- what's different, what fits in, can I keep two contrast statements at the same time?"

Incorporating new knowledge around a personal belief system is central to Schochet's outlook, and after 44 years teaching introductory political science courses at Rutgers, the 72-year-old Edison resident began his retirement.

"I have a plaque to hang on the wall now!" Schochet joked.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Schochet grew up playing with virtually no Jewish children, and he was the only Jew in his school.

"Several times a year, I was called upon to do the 'Jew thing,' talking about things like Hanukkah, which I knew almost nothing, and Pesach," Schochet said. "Sometime after World War II, my parents sent me to Hebrew school to get a Jewish education."

Shortly before his bar mitzvah, Schochet was expelled from Hebrew school, but his grandmother, who he described as one of the most important people in his life, remained his main source of Jewish culture.

"My grandmother was observant -- she worked on Shabbos, though, because she had to survive," Schochet said. "One of my favorite childhood stories was when grandma and I walked to shul one Saturday and knowing enough about Shabbos, I asked why we were walking to shul if she kept the store open. Her response was, 'In this life, you do what you can. If I close my store on Friday and Saturday, I'd be poor. God doesn't want me to be poor. And if he wants me to be poor, I'd be angry with God. I don't want to be angry with God. Walking to shul? That I can do.' I learned about Judaism without realizing it. One can be very self-consciously Jewish and still live in this world."

Schochet was aware of the political world early in life as well. His earliest political memory is President Franklin Roosevelt's death in 1945, when his father took him to watch the funeral procession.

"The casket was in a car with big open windows with military guards," Schochet said. "The coffin was covered in the American flag. My interest in politics was in place from then on."

Schochet even got involved in the 1948 election -- at the age of 11 -- by passing out fliers for Harry Truman.

"I believed in Harry Truman because he was an ardent supporter of Israel. I knew something about Israel," Schochet said. "I also supported Truman because the mayor of Baltimore (Thomas D'Alesandro Jr.) was one of the people who persuaded Truman to support Israel."

Schochet's interest in politics continued through high school, where he was known for fighting with teachers, and for reading -- one of his favorite pastimes. He used both in order to argue with a particular history teacher, which furthered his interest in political theory. This reading included Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto," which Schochet said taught him about social justice and helped him become an ardent trade unionist, learning more about both at his first job at a Baltimore brewery.

Schochet earned his bachelors in political science from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, in 1957, and went to graduate school at the University of Minnesota.

"The field that interested me in grad school was a political thought field, not well respected in the discipline," Schochet said. "I almost became a historian because of it, but Minnesota had a long and strong tradition in political theory."

Schochet, who said he lost nearly all of his Judaism in college, was reintroduced to it during grad school, when he taught at a Reform temple.

"I hated services; I loved the teaching," Schochet said. "I was responsible for teaching Jewish history and the Bible, but not Hebrew. I didn't know much about Hebrew."

His first job out of college was at the University of Rhode Island while simultaneously writing his dissertation.

"I loved my students, but I hated my job," Schochet said.

Luckily for Schochet, he was recommended for a political theorist position at Rutgers. Schochet immediately interviewed, and began his lengthy Rutgers career in the spring of 1965. Although Schochet was not particularly concerned with a Jewish presence at the time, he said he noted a Jewish presence at Rutgers that was noticeably absent from Rhode Island.

"I didn't know how important it was at the time, but I felt more comfortable at Rutgers after two days then I did at Rhode Island for six months," Schochet said.

Schochet's main class at Rutgers was an entry-level political philosophy course with an enrollment that hit 450 people. He used the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, Aristotle, Islamic philosophers, and Maimonides to identify the earliest origins of political philosophy. Schochet drew basics like the establishment of rulers; court systems and laws; and personal responsibility from Jewish sources.

"Students tell me that it's the only time in their life that they heard that Islamic philosophers are read and Judaism is studied," Schochet said. "I was delighted because that's the history we need to know. We talk about Samuel a lot when they get a king, when Moses and God get into a quarrel... we also touch on God bailing you out if you screw up, and then look at Job."

Schochet especially enjoyed teaching a course called History of Political Thought. He also taught Philosophy of Law, Rights, and Justice, several graduate seminars and a course for the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.

Schochet prides himself on his Jewish background. He is the first to admit that he is not observant, but he tells his students that he is Jewish in the first class, establishing a common ground with his Jewish students and getting more personal with his non-Jewish ones.

"Observant students were intrigued by me and don't know what to make of me," Schochet said. "I've had students who refused to read the New Testament, who would walk out of the room when I read the New Testament."

Schochet established a connection with the Rutgers Hillel in his later years at Rutgers, starting with former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in 1995.

"A student asked if I would talk to Hillel about Kristallnacht and Holocaust deniers, and the talk coincided with the day after the Rabin assassination," Schochet said. "There was a vigil for Rabin. At that vigil, there was a lot of conflict... there was a nasty exchange between the anti-Israeli Jews and the other participants. Large numbers went to the vigil and didn't come to the talk. (Former Hillel director David) Gutterman came to my talk, though, and from there, I got to know him very well."

After the Rabin talk, Schochet, Gutterman, and another professor met to discuss Judaism with a few passages from Talmud until Gutterman left in 2000. Schochet was absent from Hillel from that point until 2004, when a student invited him to talk about that year's presidential election.

"I was confrontational at this, and suddenly, I was involved in Hillel once again," Schochet said. Schochet since established a relationship with Rabbi Esther Reed, associate director of Rutgers Hillel.

Schochet told The Jewish State he'll miss his students above all else.

"My accomplishment is I taught," Schochet said. "The hardest part about leaving was... giving up the regular contact with students and seeing them over four years. Giving up my kids is like giving up my fountain of youth. Finding a way to appeal to kids and figure out where they're coming from has kept me young."

Schochet plans on traveling to see his children and grandchildren in Seattle and North Carolina and doing more research in Hebraic political thought, which he publishes in a journal called Hebraic Political Studies, which he edits.

"I turned down three offers for next year because I need this year without a schedule," Schochet said.

In a recent email he wrote to students who nominated him for an award for career-long dedication to undergraduates, which he won, Schochet thanked his students and credited them for his accomplishments.

"Someone wrote back that I certainly deserved the award, but I just as certainly did not need an award," Schochet said. "And that's my accomplishment."