Meaningful People

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
 
Never pay full price again when you download the PZ Deals app.
 
https://app.pz.deals/install/mpp
 
_________________
 
► Colel Chabad Pushka App
 
The easiest way to give Tzedaka.
 
https://pushkapp.cc/meaningful
 
_________________
 
► 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.
 
https://go.jcn.io/sgmp
 
_________________
 
► Ness Vacation Homes
 
Eden Gardens' largest luxury home collection. Handpicked, high end homes available exclusively through Ness.
 
https://nessvacationhomes.com/
 
_________________
 
► 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
 
 
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
 
Never pay full price again when you download the PZ Deals app.
 
https://app.pz.deals/install/mpp
 
_________________
 
► Colel Chabad Pushka App
 
The easiest way to give Tzedaka.
 
https://pushkapp.cc/meaningful
 
_________________
 
► Values Over Valuables
 
A campaign encouraging people to live a value based life instead of buying whatever they can afford. Watch the video and take the pledge.
 
https://valuesovervaluables.org
 
_________________
 
► Bench
 
American-style food, treats, and gifts from vendors across Jerusalem, delivered straight to your kid in Israel. A taste of home when you can't be there yourself.
 
https://benchjlm.com
 
_________________
 
► Ness Vacation Homes
 
Eden Gardens' largest luxury home collection. Handpicked, high end homes available exclusively through Ness.
 
https://nessvacationhomes.com/
 
_________________
 
► 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

This week, Nachi Gordon sits down with Yudi and Chumi Herzberg to talk about the life, story, and legacy of their daughter Charlotte, who passed away in a car accident on June 2. Yudi and Chumi walk through what made Charlotte so uniquely herself, the note she left her mother the night before the accident, and how they found out and told the rest of their kids. They also talk candidly about the ups and downs since then, including recognizing the driver as a close family friend, and how they came to see the tragedy as coming entirely from Hashem rather than from any person to blame.
 
The conversation turns toward Shalom for Charlotte, the movement Yudi and Chumi built out of the accident, aimed at inspiring people to make peace in their own relationships. They share some of the thousands of stories that have poured in since Charlotte passed, from decades long feuds ending to siblings reconnecting, and talk about what it has meant to watch their daughter's legacy grow into something so much bigger than themselves.
 
This episode is sponsored by:
 
► PZ Deals
 
Never pay full price again when you download the PZ Deals app.
 
https://app.pz.deals/install/mpp
 
_____________________
 
► Colel Chabad Pushka App
 
The easiest way to give Tzedaka.
 
https://pushkapp.cc/meaningful
 
_____________________
 
► Aura House
 
A sleek, flame free cold air diffuser that fills your home with a five star hotel scent, with no parabens or phthalates. A perfect wedding gift. Use code MEANINGFUL15 for 15% off.
 
https://aurahouse.com
 
_____________________
 
► Values Over Valuables
 
A campaign encouraging people to live a value based life instead of buying whatever they can afford. Watch the video and take the pledge.
 
https://valuesovervaluables.org
 
_____________________
 
► Voice 37 by Isaac Honig
 
An all natural vocal booster made with organic herbs that lasts 12 to 24 hours, made for singers and especially for chazzanim heading into the Yomim Noraim. Available on Amazon.
 
https://clyor.com/voice37
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N26UG0V/
 
_____________________
 
► Ness Vacation Homes
 
Eden Gardens' largest luxury home collection. Handpicked, high end homes available exclusively through Ness.
 
https://nessvacationhomes.com/
 
_____________________
 
► 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
 
Timestamps:
 
0:00 Intro
3:48 Charlotte's Personality and Big Feelings
8:55 The Note Charlotte Left the Night Before the Accident
15:49 Reliving June 2: How the Accident Unfolded
19:27 Yudi's Hope at the Scene and the Ride to the Hospital
23:19 Telling Their Other Children What Happened
25:27 Hatzalah, Neighbors, and the Community's Response
29:20 Recognizing the Driver as a Close Family Friend
33:18 Being on the Same Page as a Couple
35:09 Grief During and After Shiva
44:46 Seeing Hashem Clearly Through the Tragedy
47:46 Why They Chose the Name Shalom for Charlotte
52:18 Adjusting to Life After Shiva Ended
1:00:18 Turning Their Story Into Chizuk for Others
1:04:57 Rabbi Robino Eisenberger's Message on a Predestined Life
1:13:35 Stories of Shalom Pouring In From Around the World
1:20:29 The Goal of 100,000 Acts of Shalom
1:25:02 Visiting Charlotte's Grave
1:27:03 Preparing for a Simcha and Living Life Fully Today