JTS students name Teaneck man ‘professor of the year’

Teaneck N.J- Jonathan Milgram, assistant professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary, says he has learned a great deal from watching the way his own children are learning at Ben Porat Yosef in Paramus.

“My teaching style has been very much affected by observing how wonderfully kids learn,” said the Teaneck resident, explaining the emphasis in the lower grades on varied and individualized instruction.

Not everyone absorbs information in the same way, he observed. “Watching how successfully [children] learn, I asked myself [as a college professor] how I would teach kids who study that way when they reached college age.”
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Jonathan Milgram

His conclusion — to focus similarly on individualized instruction — has been greeted warmly by his JTS students. Milgram was elected professor of the year by the Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies of JTS for the 2008–2009 academic year.

The professor said he has tried to foster the intellectual growth of individual students even though his classes are fairly large. He also tries to make himself available to his students.

“I care deeply about the material and make sure they understand why Talmud is an essential discipline to study even in the 21st century,” he said, adding that such study is “also relevant to intellectual and spiritual growth.”

Teaneck to give vets parking-lot perks

TEANECK – The township will establish courtesy parking spaces for veterans in two of its municipal lots. (Former Mayor) Councilman Elie Katz , who came up with the idea, said the gesture is a way of thanking veterans for their service.

“It is because of our veterans that we as Americans can enjoy all of our rights and liberties,” he said. Signs will ask drivers to reserve the spaces for veterans. NorthJersey.com

You Can Save A Life ; Just take a fiew minutes and wipe the Ice/Snow off your car

 

Above is a picture of a car that was smashed from falling ice. Please be considerate for your fellow freinds. Please take the extra fiew minutes to clear snow or ice off your car. Please use caution when driving leave extra time.

It was unseasonably warm last week, but it didn’t keep me from encountering people who sympathized — just barely — with this column’s call to ban the kind of road hazard that we call the Snow and Ice That Fall Twice.

That’s the kind of white junk that leaves the other guy’s car or truck, hits your windshield and makes your whole life flash in front of you. You know the kind:

* The Route 17 kind that killed Ridgewood’s Michael Eastman nearly 12 years ago.

* The Route 287 kind that caused Hawthorne’s Bob and Mary Mahon to chase after the car whose icy load smashed their windshield last year.

* The Route 80 kind that ran Kinnelon’s Tara Varner and her 2-year-old off the road last month.

Shouldn’t New Jersey fine drivers whose vehicles carry snow? Currently, statute 39:4-77.1 makes it illegal only when it causes damage or injury.

Cathy Eastman understands this because the vehicle whose icy load crushed her husband’s skull was long gone by the time police arrived. Tara, Bob, Mary and most of the 2,000 readers who sent me petitions early this year also get it.

But not some folks I’ve encountered. “There are thousands of SUVs, many driven by women,” said Pequannock’s E.L. Quigley. “They can’t clean ice off the tops of their vehicles.”

Ray R. also sympathizes, but:

“Do you have suggestions for clearing … snow from an SUV that’s been out overnight WITHOUT damaging the hood, roof rack or moon roof?” asked the Fair Lawn man. “Pushing snow off is easy, but after past storms, thick solid ice and packed snow didn’t budge after the car’s heater was on for 20 minutes.”

* Run a garden hose over the car with the heater running, but do this for short periods to avoid cracking the windshield.

* Put old cardboard, canvas or a rug over the vehicle before it snows, and yank it off after the storm.

* Run the engine for an hour, long enough to free frozen snow, or at least to help clear it.

Some consider all this unnecessary. One woman, 72, said: “If I can clean my SUV, so can anybody.” Cathy Eastman, who’s 5 feet 1, says she does it. NorthJersey.com And Passaic News.

As N.J. house sales fall, prices still rise – only more slowly

The number of New Jersey house sales dropped 13.4 percent during the third quarter of 2007 from the same period in 2006, continuing a slide from the hyperactive sales pace of 2004 and 2005, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

Home prices, however, have not followed. In the census area that includes Bergen and Passaic counties, prices were up 3.6 percent from the same period last year, to a median of $550,900 for an existing single-family home, the NAR said.

That may reflect high demand in New York City, which is in the same statistical area. The New Jersey Multiple Listing Service says that North Jersey prices have risen just about 1 percent over the last year, to a median of $520,000 in Bergen County and $389,000 in Passaic County. northjersey.com

Teaneck Elections Spawn Political Fight With Orthodox Jews

Article Abridged from by VosIzNeias.
Full article available here.

Teaneck, NJ – A wave of political unrest in Teaneck is pitting Orthodox Jewish township councilmen against other groups.

The disputes — which focus mostly on last year’s election and aren’t overtly about religion — have fueled stormy council meetings, angry Internet postings and letters to the local newspaper.

Some say the level of rancor reflects hidden community fissures that few want to discuss openly.

“When I heard the terminology of ‘we’ and ‘they’ and ‘the Orthodox’ — we need to talk about it,” veteran Councilwoman Jacqueline B. Kates said after a tumultuous council meeting June 26. “But I don’t think we know how to talk about it without hurting each other.”

Teaneck has long prided itself on diversity and tolerance. The township, which is 56 percent white and 29 percent African-American, was the first suburban community in the nation to voluntarily integrate its schools. During the past three decades, it has become one of the largest Orthodox Jewish enclaves in New Jersey.

Full article available here.