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.

This episode is sponsored by:

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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:

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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

The shidduch system says stay in your lane: same hashkafa, same schools, and wait for the shadchan to call. Rivkah Fox thinks that's exactly what's keeping so many people single. With Blind Fate, the matchmaking platform she started on Instagram, she's throwing out the boxes and labels with anonymous bios, blind video dates and caricature resumes, and setting up couples the system would never put together, like a yeshivish guy with smicha and a modern Orthodox Ramaz grad who are now married with kids. Hundreds of singles in eight countries have gotten married through her setups, and instead of pushback, rabbanim and even a Rebbe's gabbai are calling her for help.

Nachi Gordon pushes her on all of it: whether crossing hashkafa lines puts someone's Yiddishkeit at risk, why she calls image the biggest problem in the shidduch world, how she gets paid without becoming a debt collector, and the week an entire family turned on her over one green check on the Loop app.

This episode is sponsored by:

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In this special throwback episode,Nachi Gordon sits down with Rivka Shotkin, a 16 year old from Passaic and the youngest guest in Meaningful People history. On January 31, 2021, a family ski trip in Tannersville ended when Rivka missed a turn on her last run of the day and went straight into a tree, breaking 11 bones, puncturing both lungs, and severing her spinal cord. She walks us through waking up in the ICU nine days later, three months of rehab during COVID without being able to see her family, and landing back in the hospital with septic shock just five days after finally coming home.

What makes this one special is how Rivka talks about all of it. She opens up about how unhappy she was before the accident, the strange sense of peace she felt that weekend, why she now calls her injury a gift, and what she wants the community to understand about treating people in wheelchairs. It's funny, honest, and genuinely inspiring.

This episode is sponsored by:

► PZ Deals

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► Colel Chabad Pushka App

The easiest way to give Tzedaka.

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► Shopify Guru

Store looks great but not selling the way it should? Shopify Guru's Daniel gets under the hood and makes it actually work, no developer needed every time you want to make a change. Call 732-534-1404 or go to shopifyguru.io.

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► Ness Vacation Homes

Eden Gardens' largest luxury home collection. Handpicked, high end homes available exclusively through Ness.

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► Rothenberg Law Firm

Personal Injury Law Firm for 50+ years! Reach out today for a free case evaluation.

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► Town Appliance

Visit the website or message them on WhatsApp.

https://www.townappliance.com

https://bit.ly/Townappliance_whatsapp

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro: Meet Rivka Shotkin, MPP's Youngest Guest Ever

4:02 Welcome to the Studio and Growing Up in Passaic

7:23 The Ski Trip to Tannersville That Changed Everything

10:10 Airlifted to Albany and Waking Up Nine Days Later

13:20 Learning Rivka Was Paralyzed and Eli Portell's Advice

15:49 Anger, Dark Humor, and Taking It in Stride

18:04 Three Months of Rehab During COVID

22:07 Punishment, Test, or Gift?

23:33 Coming Home, a Wedding Cake, and Septic Shock

27:29 How to Accept What You Never Signed Up For

29:45 Unhappy Before the Accident and a Strange Premonition

31:57 Choosing Happiness and Strength From Rivka's Parents

34:59 Brain Surgeon Dreams and How to Treat People in Wheelchairs

38:20 Emunah, Hashgacha, and Not Being Afraid of the Pain

42:36 Rivka's Second Rosh Hashanah

46:17 Camp Simcha and Rivka's Support System

49:06 Poetry, Dreams, and Determination

Nachi Gordon hosts a live panel on sexual abuse in the frum community, recorded at an event presented by Ray of Hope and Amudim right before Rosh Hashanah. He's joined by Amudim founder Zvi Gluck, Amudim's Director of Education Avi Landa, Amudim Clinical Director Dr. Miriam Lankry, and Ray of Hope founder Zelda Brody, who opens the evening by sharing her own story of abuse and the years of silent suffering that led her to build Ray of Hope. Using live audience polling throughout the night, the panel works through how well the community actually handles abuse, how young the conversation about bodies and boundaries with kids should start, and what to say and what never to say when someone discloses to you.

From there the conversation moves into harder territory: which warning signs actually mean something, why going to a rav first is often not the full answer, when police need to be the first call, and how survivors navigate marriage, dating, and family relationships with relatives who still stay close to their abuser. Zvi, Avi, Miriam, and Zelda spend real time on why so many people still stay silent out of shame, push back hard on the idea that abusers often get more communal support than their victims, and close out the night on what they'd want every survivor in the room, and everyone listening at home, to walk away knowing.

This week, Nachi Gordon sits down with Charlie Harari for a wide-ranging conversation about what it actually means to love someone, honor your parents, and do teshuva. Charlie unpacks how modern therapy culture has replaced the role of a rebbe for a lot of people, and argues that real love isn't validation, it's pointing someone toward Hashem even when that's uncomfortable to hear. From there the conversation moves through honoring parents even when the relationship is hard, why teshuva is really about identity rather than behavior, and why tragedy seems to shake people awake to Hashem faster than blessing does.

Charlie also talks about Kelil, the app and upcoming book he co-wrote to help people work through jealousy, honoring parents, and other areas of avodas Hashem that are hard to figure out on your own.

This episode is sponsored by:

► PZ Deals

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► Colel Chabad Pushka App

The easiest way to give Tzedaka.

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► Values Over Valuables

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► Rothenberg Law Firm

Personal Injury Law Firm for 50+ years! Reach out today for a free case evaluation.

https://shorturl.at/JFKHH

_________________

► Town Appliance

Visit the website or message them on WhatsApp.

https://www.townappliance.com

https://bit.ly/Townappliance_whatsapp

As we mark 25 years since September 11, we're revisiting Ari Schonbrun's extraordinary story of survival. Ari worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 101st floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower. A series of seemingly ordinary delays left him running late that morning, placing him on the 78th floor when the first plane struck. Thrown to the ground by the impact and surrounded by smoke, fire, and chaos, Ari began searching for a way out.

That search brought him to Virginia, a severely burned coworker who begged him not to leave her. Ari made her a promise and helped her down dozens of flights of stairs, refusing to abandon her even as they fought to escape with their lives. In this deeply moving conversation, Ari recounts the decisions, strangers, and extraordinary moments of Divine Providence that led them out of the tower, and how surviving September 11 forever changed his faith, his priorities, and the way he understands why he was spared.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:04 Not Taught in School

4:50 A Beautiful Tuesday Morning

11:25 First Plane Hits

14:08 A Woman Screaming for Help

17:03 Finding a Way Out

19:04 A Phone Call in the Stairwell

21:36 Is There a Paramedic in the Building?

25:32 Finds Out it's a Terrorist Attack

29:20 Breaking Down in His Brother's Arms

32:38 Go Hug the People You Love

34:40 Twenty People, A Hundred Messages

35:45 Daddy's Got to Work

38:00 One Mitzvah at a Time

43:33 Only Four Survived

47:20 The Smoky Taste the Next Morning

50:44 Find Your Mission

57:33 Can You Come In at 11?

59:30 Cantor Fitzgerald's Promise

1:01:19 Whispers and Bricks