Purpose

Why are you here? Why is this here?

For a number of reasons really. One, I was bored. Two, I thought you might be looking to find out more about me. Three, I found the sociological ramifications of the personal aspects of the internet fascinating. Many people search the internet to find out about others. The idea of "Googling" random people to see what random information can be found about a person buried deep in the internet is common. You can really tell a lot about a person by what comes up. So I figured, why make people go searching? What if I could pull all that information about one person into one place, and then present that to see what picture can be painted of the subject? Why shouldn't that person be me?

So I searched and gathered for any direct reference to myself that I could find. Some items are written or created by me. Others are posted online by others. Some are intentional presentations of my ideas, and others appear to be routine daily transactions. But my theory is that the sum of all the parts presented should actually present a realistic picture of who I am. Balancing the boasting comments with the candid remarks should allow for an unbiased image. Or so I propose.

One last thing. While I consider this to be a complete listing of all references to myself, my research was flawed in that I did it. I may not have considered every source, and I may fail to remember to post some new links. Should you find a reference, please leave it in the comments, so that you can leave this database more complete for those who follow.

Thanks again, and enjoy your stay.

A Hyperlink Biography

I was born on March 9th, 1980 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I went to kindergarten at Hillel Academy, but I moved halfway through the year (On January 28th, 1986 - the day the Challenger exploded) to Skokie, Illinois, my home since. I went to Solomon Schechter Day School in Skokie through 8th Grade. While there, I played saxophone and clarinet in the band, and ran track. I went to high school at Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago, Illinois, where among other things, I was fortunate to study under Rabbi Mayer Juzint, a very special person. Following high school, I spent two years studying in Jerusalem at Yeshivat Hakotel, a program which is now known as Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh. I then continued my education for four years at Yeshiva University (YU) in uptown Manhattan, NY. I began studying Computer Science, and then switched into Finance. I dabbled in Foreign Languages along the way. In my spare time, I was an advisor for Har Sinai - National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) in Upstate New York. I served as President of the Student Organization of Yeshiva (SOY) at YU, and also helped run the SOY Seforim Sale. For seven summers, ending with my freshman year of college, I was a day camp counselor at the Jewish Community Center of Skokie. The next two summers were spent at Inland Real Estate Investment Corporation. I currently work at Kraft Foods as a Financial Associate. Who knows what link will be next.

My Sites

Read about me through the various sites I've maintained throughout the years. They're a virtual reality of my life (or lack thereof).

Why Josh Can't be Left Alone - This blog is a potpouri of random ramblings, opinions, and embarassing stories. Enjoy!
KraftKosher - This blog details my religious experiences at a Fortune 500 company.
CampSOY - This group blog is a social water cooler for students who worked on the SOY Seforim Sale.
My MIS Class Hoempage - This was the homepage for our required web presence in my college course. Sometimes what you say off the record says more about you than what you disseminate intentionally.
My MIS Class Project - This site was my semester end project. Don't think it works. It never did.

Vacation Albums

My new digital camera now enables me to share photos (and videos!) from my world travels. I have tried to organize them into albums. Beware of the high bandwidth!

New York - February 2006

Israel - January 2006

Silver Spring - January 2006

Random Pics

Photos Online

One of the first things people want to know about a person is what they look like. This curiousity is due in part to fantasy, part to a desire to have a tangible recognition of a subject. I have assembled all the pictures of myself here, regardless of whether the context relates to one of the other sections. These should serve to give you a feel for my "look," or to print out and use as a dartboard.

Thanksgiving with the Family
Eimatai High School Shabbaton - Pic 1
Eimatai High School Shabbaton - Pic 2
A Group Shot from the Netiv Aryeh Website
I make a nice cameo in this video from YU's freshmen orientation
Skip to about four minutes in, or two thirds of the way through.
Boogeying at Marc and Emily's Wedding
Marc and Emily's Wedding: It's gotta be the shoes!

Caught on OnlySimchas:
Hitting on the Sister of the Bride"
Where's Waldo
Stern Stud
Try and Spot Me in the Clown Car at this Wedding
Dancing Friends to their Chuppah
More Dancing to Chuppah, in Slow Motion
Looking so Shtark, as a Solo is Sung
Dancing in the Streets
One of Those Big Group Wedding Shots
A Cute Little Engagement Party
Who Am I Hitting on Here?

Dating Profile's

Get a glimpse of me in my own words. I am signed up on a number of online Jewish dating sites. I'm on them partially in order to take advantage of every opportunity of meeting that special someone (I'm not an active user, but, hey, you never know), and partially just to take advantage of the free registration to browse through the other profiles. But reading them will tell you a little about me through how I'm selling myself for the biggest transaction in life...and what I'm looking to buy.

Frumster
Frumsky
FutureSimchas
And, yes, even JDate

This isn't a dating site, but it still has a profile.
Classmates.com

YU Hock

These links will help fill you in on the time I spent studying at Yeshiva University

Playing in the Student/Faculty Basketball Game. PDF version, so you'll have to scroll through.
My Student Council Days
MY MIS Class Photo Gallery
My Quotes in "G-d on the Quad"

I'm dropping this in here, because I don't know where else this would fit in. I figured because this only came about as a result of a fad at YU, it could go here. Facebook

Talked About Around Town

Sometimes it's not your own words that are most incriminating, but those said by others. Or the fact that those other's know you. Guilt by association. Check out the various sites where my name is dragged through the mud.

I jumped in on one of the issues discussed at Menachem Butler's American Jewish History Blog.
Dave Weinberg keeps a blog at You Got Daved. I left a comment for him.
I got a shout out on Mark Dredze's website.
EphShap loves me too. Check out a reference on his blog here.
I did get props in a CampusJ posting. The Controversy that they Stirred up Here is My Claim to Fame
The Archived Version. I get a nice personal response here.

Other Blogs I've been involved with
Jewbavitcher
Bec's Universe
Elisheva
Sem Girl
Shosh

Chicago Tribune Letters

I'm an avid reader of the Opinion pages in the Chicago Tribune (as well as other sources, such as Newsweek). Not liking to just absorb other's ideas, I like to write in my two cents as well. Below are the Letters to the Editor of mine that have been published in the Chicago Tribune. You'll get a sense of my activist tendencies. Or just my ability to shoot my mouth off. I obviously know better than everybody else.

On Public Space
On Anti-Semites and Holocaust Denial
On Political Sitting Ducks
On Fat People and Small Airline Seats
On Gas Habits
On Stadium Architecture

Commentator Articles

Throughout my years at YU, I was tied in many ways to the school newspaper. From writing columns to being interviewed, the YU Commentator contains a number of snapshots of my college experience. Get a feel for my writing style, my passions, or just my plain lack of anything better to do.


Mentioned in Various Articles
Here I'm Invterviewed About a Program I ran
Here I'm Mentioned Regarding Student Council Issues
Here I'm Interviewed about Student Council Meetings
Here I'm Mentioned Regarding Student Council Committees
Mentioned Regarding the Chanukah Chagigah
The Chanukah Chagigah Again Same article, different webhost.
Here I'm Interviewed About the Purim Chagigah
Here I'm Mentioned Regarding Campus Improvements
Here I'm Mentioned in Another Student Leader's Column
Mentioned in Another Student Leader's Column. I'm popular.
Here I'm Mentioned in Reference to the SOY Seforim Sale
A Little Bit of Fun in the Purim Edition


Letters to the Editor
A Group Letter from Student Leaders Regarding Cheating
A Letter about Fraternaties on Campus
A Letter Regarding the Arts and Torah
A Letter Regarding Immodest Photos in the Newspaper


My Column
8/25/02 Column Abstracts
8/25/02 Column
11/10/02 Column
11/10/02 Column Secondary Webhost
11/25/02 Column
12/31/02 Column
12/31/02 Column Secondary Webhost
2/12/03 Column
2/12/03 Column Abstracts
03/06/03 Column
4/10/03 Column
4/10/03 Column Printable Version
5/20/03 Column

Onlysimchas Posts

A favorite pastime is glancing at OnlySimchas to get updated on the lifecycle events of those I've befriended at various stages of life (and to check out their single female friends, but that's another story). I'm usually just an observer, but occasionally I'll leave my mark as well, posting my own remarks to the celebrants. I don't always leave my musings for posterity, but from those time that I do, you may be able to glean some insight into my personality. Or not. But at least you can see who I'm friends with.

Lori Miodownik and Shai Barnea's Engagement
Erica Stock and Effie Markovitz's Engagement
Devorah Abberbock and Shimmy Rothenberg's Engagement
Shira Jaret and Hezky Varon's Engagement
Bryna Billauer and Shalom Ozarowski's Engagement
Mikey Davis and Aliza Fessel's Engagement
Adina Lasky and Amichai Strasberg's Engagement
Ilana Lieberson and Jeff Weiss' Engagement
Jason Silverman and Shaina Weingarten's Engagement
Avi Ackerman and Sherry Papir's Engagement
Alana Glantz and Aytan Adler's Engagement
Ellen Langer and Gabe Winter's Engagement
Freddie and Orlit Goldman's Baby Girl
Ami Meyers and Zisy Gordon's Engagement
Caryn Friedman and Avi Golombeck's Engagement
ZY Kesselman and Shana Sokolic's Engagement
Lea Benguigui's Graduation
Diana Benmergui's Graduation
Miriam Klein and Binny Casper's Engagement
Leora Ross and David Elman's Engagement
Marc Lennon and Emily Shipman's Engagement
Kaila Wruble and Ben Shimshak's Engagement
Alex Kushnir and Riki Goldberg's Engagement
Rebecca Wimmer and Josh Hockley's Wedding
Kenny Berg and Shosh Pava's Wedding
Bela Resnicof and Ephraim Unell's Engagemnt
Yael Green and Elnatan Rudolph's Wedding
Rachel Turk and David Rabin's Engagement
Emily Turetsky and Aaron Hershtal's Engagement
Chana Marvin and Andrew Zimmerman's Engagement
Gabe Kroll and Shoshana Newman's Engagement
Ross Shapiro and Helene Oppenheimer's Engagement
Naomi Cohen and Michael Klein's Engagement
Aaron Leib and Leora Feit's Engagement
Bracha Bienenfeld and Chaim Sendic
Jennifer Landerer and Aaron Mallin' Engagement
Alan Jacob and Elizabeth Kerekes' Engagement
Ari Polsky and Rachel Avner's Engagement
Josh Horwitz and Riki Bochner's Engagement
Uri Korn and Sheri Malka's Engagement
Elysia Rothenberg and Marc Stein's Wedding
Rami Berner and Holly Fuchs' Engagement
Yummy Schachter and Shoshana Kuhl's Engagement
Phillip Vedol and Sharona Siegel's Engagement
Shosh Pava and Kenny Berg's Engagement
Avi Beneson and Steffie Dorfman's Engagement
Esther Cohen and Gideon Bannet's Engagement
Tamara Zimmerman and Shaya Lempel's Engagement
Marc Lerman and Carla Moy's Engagement
Rebecca Wimmer and Josh Hockley's Engagement
Beth Stein and Nat Lipschitz's Engagement
Julie Tager and Yaakov Rosenberg's Engagement
Marc Stein and Elysia Rothenberg's Engagement
Adina Weil and Tuvi Grossman's Engagement
Ouriel Hassan and Gabe Golden's Engagement
Mordechai Slovin and Shira Barr's Engagement
Felice Gottleib and Shmuel Barak's Engagement
Ari Herman and Netti Minsker's Enagement

Josh Goldman's I'm Not

One of those joys of Googling somebody is the random hits you get with people of the same name. To simulate that same experience here, I've pulled together some of my favorite imposters.

Nice Boy, Nice Bar Mitzvah, Nice Try
This Guy is a Successful Business Man and Quite the Entrepreneur. Still no Match.
Another Successful Businessman
I like to Swim, but I'm not this Aquatic
I Like Reading, but this is Still Greek to Me
Good Resume, but Keep Looking, Buddy
We don't Exactly Share Beliefs, but we do Apparently Share a Sense of Humor
There is a Goldman at University of Maryland, but I've Never been Big into Fraternities
And a Goldman did go Here, but Alas not the Real Thing
Please Do Not Visit this Site on Shabbos and Yom Tov
Well, I am Prolific and Multi-Talented
Free Jonathan Pollard Now. Or Later.
I like Food, and Cincinatti Sounds Cool, but not my Taste
Cool Shul, but I wasn't around in 1978
I may Keep up on the News, but I certainly didn't Write about this

And the Winner of Closest Match...