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
