and it basically has two reasons for being the original reason comes out of the israelite people bei agricultural pple a few thousand yea ago in the land that we now call israel. the israelites would bring the bikkurim -- the first fruits, the first offerings -- of their harvest up to the temple as an offering to god, as a way of saying thank you and in hopes of a good harvest. after the temple was destroyed in about 70ce, the rabbis needed to enlarge the understanding of shavuot because we no longer had a temple to which people could bring their offerings. so they brought forward this understanding of shavuot as being the anniversary of revelation the anniversary of the moment that god gave the torah, our bible, or part of th2 hebrew bible, to the israelite people on mount sinai, basically turning them from this rag tag group of slaves who had just weeks ago come out of egypt into a people complete with its own set of texts and ways of being in the world. >> shavuot, actually probably more than any other holiday on the jewish calendar, is very difficult for american jews in the 21st

and our first reading, the commander of the israelite army wants to commemorate the deaths of all of those who died in battle. we honor all of those in the bay area who have made the supreme sacrifice. tony in vinnie died together in will be buried together. it is important that we be together today. we come from many different backgrounds. we come from different races and different religions, many different genders and the different departments, but today we do this together, we do it because we have to be together at a time like this. every time a firefighter goes out the doors of the firehouse, they never know what they are really going to find. the dispatch can be as far as the moon from what they might actually find at the scene, it might just be a false alarm, it might be a nuisance call, it might not have any merit. it could be a cut finger, a cardiac arrest, a small fire can become, as it did the other day, a greater alarm fire. we go out the door not knowing what we will find and not knowing what we were really face. firefighters will always respond together. a you respond t

after the israelites can out of egypt, they had accepted god as their king.by. they did not have a king. what they have judges. it was a patriarchal society. it was a family-driven society. there were always going to the arguments and conflicts of these conflicts were taken not to the government but to somebody who was chosen to be a judge. , a respected person that respectable law and their traditions. a time came because there was always a temptation as the israelites were leaving egypt that there was the temptation to drift away from the belief in god. there was this effort made under samuel. the people came and said they want somebody to take care of us. we want a king. stick -- samuel strongly objected to it. he said you don't want the king that will substitute for god. he said -- you need to read that chapter because he predicts what happens if you have a king. he said the king will take your young people, your young men to fight wars, the young women to be used in the government. they will tax you and overburden you and you have to work 45% of the time

there are 15 verses and each verse is a different stage in the journey the israelites made from being slaves in egypt to being free in the promised land. and after each verse is said, everyone yells out "dayenu." in fact, say the word "dayenu." dayenu. now dayenu doesn't only have to be a passover practice. i use dayenu as a daily practice, a kind of marinade for my consciousness. it works this way. if i got up early in the morning to see my beautiful children peacefully sleeping, but my car broke down and i didn't make my meeting... dayenu. if a friend called who i hadn't spoken to in more than a decade and i reconnected to him, but that deal that i was working on fell through... dayenu. if that deal came through, but i didn't get those tickets to the stones concert that i really wanted... dayenu. you see, our life journey is made up of an infinite number of finite steps. and the only question really is how many times along the way in every day are we able to say dayenu-- "i want it all and i found enough"? now the embodiment in my life of this understanding of dayenu is my father-in

pandering to people space by comparing his not so popular budget plan to the hardships suffered by the israelites in the bible which i find kind of pathetic encouraging people to needlessly suffer because of your poor and destructive policy choices and then comparing that to these your life is well that's just about as low as it gets and speaking of poor policy choices take a look at what perry is proposing to cut public schools will suffer a seven point eight billion dollar loss ninety seven thousand teachers and numbers of school staff are going to be laid off and ninety three hundred government workers are also going to be handed pink slips by the way the texas house ways and means committee allowed a tax break for anybody who wants to buy a yacht over two hundred fifty thousand dollars so let's be honest if you propose legislation that would screw over a good portion of your state's increase people suffering during a hard time then you probably come up with some absurd godly reason to right edge because like he called on texans do pray for rain perry wants to be able to get away with passing

anything well they are right they won't do anything and hezbollah is to act as a deterrent to keep the israelites from invading. there are many who believe this and what his blood really is is a magnet that draws the israelis and. they would have no reason to invade lebanon if there was no threat inside with want to read the didn't exist the border would be quiet and that would be that. but many people don't see it that way also some of them do and they argue about this among themselves. >> host: so it's an argument still in process. >> guest: hezbollah is useful to the syrians for a couple of reasons. one, the syrian government is iran's ally and hezbollah is your done's project so serial will help for that reason but what they get out of it is two things. the government in damascus gets credit for championing the resistance against israel sponsoring hezbollah. so it doesn't have to take any punishment when israel responds because hezbollah exists on lebanon rather than israel gets bombed, so basically gets to have its cake and eat too so hezbollah is also as is proven vividly in 2008 useful aga

i thought of the improv urged arabs in the west bank and king solomon and his israelite progeny. who cared about baseball and the centuries-old conflict was still raised -- raging. of baseball could have helped unite these two plants what good was it like staring out the window i lost track of space and time. suddenly i was back in france. during a trip from paris to our home in toulouse i use for all intensive purposes we could have been on a bus in west texas why play the summer before and the view was identical. yellow vine race beside us in the foreground followed a metronome and telephone poles and a steadfast distance illuminated only by the faint light of the fading sun. in a vain attempt to be like my dad who is right back there, love you dadcamus was a working musician and i was born i remembered that hooked to a song i once tried to right. staring out the window the mountains pass on by in the twilight sky. how many times under how many conditions and how many places have a written a bus? whatever the final tally, i could add to the song one more verse. is a dream of pe

this is when after the people in jig after the israelites came out of egypt, they had accepted god as their king. that is what they live by. they did not have a king. what they had for judges. it was a patriarchal society, but there were always going to be conflicts. the time came -- there was always a temptation to drift away from the belief in god. there was an effort made under samuel. the people came and said we want somebody to take care of us. we want a king. samuel strongly objected to it. he explained to them, you do not want a king that would substitute for got. you need to read that chapter, because he predicts what happens if you have a king. he said the teen will take your young people, you are a young men to fight wars, your young women to be used in the government. they would attack you and overburden you and you will have to wk for about% of the time for the king. i got to thinking -- you have to work 45% of the time for the king. isn't that essentially what we have done today? we don't need a king and we don't need washington to act as if they are the king in this coun

i thought of king solomon and his israelite progeny. who cared about baseball and a centuries-old conflict was still raising -- region. if baseball couldn't help unite these two lands what good was it? staring out the window i lost track of space and time. suddenly i was back in france during a trip from paris to our home by news that for all intents and purposes we could have been on a bus in west texas where i played the summer before as the view was identical. a yellow line reads beside us in the foreground followed by metronome and telephone poles and a steadfast plane and the distance illuminated only by the faint light of the fading sun. in an attempt to be like my dad who's right back there, i love you dad, was a working musician until i was born i remembered the hook to a song i once tried to write. staring out the window baliles pass by as france merges into texas in the twilight sky it's just another ride. how many times under how many conditions and how many places have i've ridden the bus? whatever the final tally i could ad

this is when after the people in jig after the israelites came out of egypt, they had accepted god asheir king. that is what they live by. they did not have a king. what they had for judges. it was a patriarchal society, but there were always going to be conflicts. the time came -- there was always a temptation to drift away from the belief in god. there was an effort made under samuel. the people came and said we want somebody to take care of us. we want a king. samuel strongly objected to it. he explained to them, you do not want a king that would substitute for got. you need to read that chapter, because he predicts what happens if you have a king. he said the teen will take your young people, you are a young men to fight wars, your young women to be used in the government. they would attack you and overburden you and you will have to work for about% of the time for the king. i got to thinking -- you have to work 45% of the time for the king. isn't that essentially what we have done today? we don't need a king and we don't need washington to act as if they are the king in this coun

this is when after the people in jig after the israelites came out of egypt, they had accepted god as. what they had for judges. it was a patriarchal society, but there were always going to be conflicts. the time came -- there was always a temptation to drift away from the belief in god. there was an effort made under samuel. the people came and said we want somebody to take care of us. we want a king. samuel strongly objected to it. he explained to them, you do not want a king that would substitute for got. you need to read that chapter, because he predicts what happens if you have a king. he said the teen will take your young people, you are a young men to fight wars, your young women to be used in the government. they would attack you and overburden you and you will have to work for about% of the time for the king. i got to thinking -- you have to work 45% of the time for the king. isn't that essentially what we have done today? we don't need a king and we don't need washington to act as if they are the king in this country. but today, there is so much dependency on the government,

we never voted against israelite god.ous and it was no surprise that a couple few weeks later the flotilla challenged the blockade. that is what happens when a nation's enemies at their strongest ally distancing itself from them. so that is when i started pushing, prepared a letter to pelosi and try to get a lot of democrats to. i got one, but i didn't have enough to make much difference. so i approached the speaker on the floors. we need the world to see that both sides of the i/o will stand up and applaud the prime minister of israel so they understand that we are their friend. she said that's that's a great idea. such a crowded time. i had a letter with about 60 republicans who say to boehner, he came down the aisle and said friend minister, i've been working for a year to get you invited to be here, so don't screw this up. he said i'm not going to screw this up. i said don't forget the whole time you're talking, our national motto is above your head. in god we trust. he said a dirty thought about that. well, judges do