Nachi Gordon sits down with Ben Brafman, one of the most well known criminal defense attorneys in the country and a proud frum Jew. Ben opens up about sitting with clients at the worst moments of their lives, why he says he's "not the morality police," the Otisville visiting day he can never forget, and the hardest conversation of his career, with Super Bowl champion Plaxico Burress.

They also get into the pressures and shortcuts that lead good people into serious crimes, the damage lashon hara does in our community, keeping Shabbos while representing Sean Combs, and the Brafman family legacy, from the Torah his father saved on Kristallnacht to the lives his brother, Rabbi Aron Brafman, changed at Yeshiva of Far Rockaway.

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Timestamps:

0:00 Intro: "I'm Not the Morality Police"

3:29 Ben Brafman on Talking Clients Out of Suicide and an Affinity Fraud in Shul

6:25 No Mussar and No Shortcuts: The Hard Work Behind the Job

8:31 His Father, Kristallnacht, and the Torah Saved From a Burning Shul

9:39 Law School, Stand-Up Comedy, and Humor in the Courtroom

11:46 What Gets Frum Business People in Trouble

13:26 Otisville Visiting Day: "Tatti, Kum Aheim"

16:28 COVID Loans, False Applications, and Federal Sentencing

20:34 Mesira, Cooperating With the Government, and Pardons for Sale

24:34 The Chesed of the Jewish Community and Hospital Shabbos Rooms

28:26 Lashon Hara: "Be Like Ben"

31:26 Yiddishkeit vs. Career: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and a "Heart Surgery"

35:30 Making a Name: In the Zone and No Summers Off

37:58 The Hardest Conversation: Plaxico Burress

41:40 How Do You Defend Someone You Think Belongs in Jail?

43:26 Smicha Is Not a PhD: Kollel, Financial Pressure, and the Cheder in Ramat Eshkol

48:42 The Art of Cross-Examination and the Evidence You Can't Cross-Examine

54:22 No Shortcuts to Success, and Lawyers Burned by AI

56:03 Not Picking Up on Shabbos for Sean Combs

1:01:18 The Mafia Cops Case That Should Be a Movie

1:05:36 Best and Worst Advice, and Learning Daf Yomi

1:09:26 Ben and His Brother, Rabbi Aron Brafman

1:15:50 Sullivan & Cromwell and Frum Lawyers in Big Law

1:18:08 Closing and Meaningful Minute Plus

On September 30, Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv was hijacked mid-air. A terrorist stabbed the pilot, the plane dropped 15,000 feet in under a minute, and for a few seconds nobody was flying it. Nachi Gordon sits down with Daniel Schlichter, who was sitting in the second row with his wife, two meters from the cockpit, and watched three Israeli passengers take the terrorist down while a dentist on board treated the pilot. Daniel handed them the headphones they used to tie him up.

Daniel walks through every minute: the empty cockpit, the off-duty pilots who took over, the flight attendant who told them to let the terrorist go, the emergency landing in Saudi Arabia with part of the tail missing, and the first direct flight from Saudi Arabia to Israel. He also opens up about why a man who never considered himself religious now calls it a divine miracle, and what he believes all 174 people on that plane are still here to do.

This episode is sponsored by:

► PZ Deals

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Timestamps:

0:00 Intro: "Nobody's Flying This Plane"

1:55 Daniel Schlichter on Boarding Flight FZ1073 Home From Japan

3:36 "Somebody Is Stabbing the Pilot": The Fight in the Cockpit

8:45 Losing 15,000 Feet in Under a Minute

11:31 The Miracles That Kept 174 People Alive and What It Did to Daniel's Faith

16:06 An Empty Cockpit and the Off-Duty Pilots Who Took Over

18:59 Not Trusting the Crew and Landing in Saudi Arabia

22:52 Am Yisrael Chai and the First Direct Flight From Saudi Arabia to Israel

25:05 "Kill Me, Kill Me": Why It Was Terror, Not a Fight Between Pilots

29:10 "I'm Not a Hero": Coming Home and Searching for Why

32:57 The Indian Pilot Who Opened the Door