About the Ma Nishtana and the Pascha. Matters of faith may seem other-wordly to millions, but given that much of the nation is attracted to faith-inspired observances, on some pragmatic level, it is useful to have some basic understanding of them. After all, we go to work, or do business, with people who are often motivated by some degree of faith. Some definitions will help set the stage.
“Ma Nishtana (Hebrew: מה נשתנה) are the first two words in a phrase meaning “Why is tonight different from all other nights?”” That’s per Wikipedia. “Passover begins at sundown on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 and ends on Thursday, April 13, in the United States, according to the Palm Beach Post. The Farmers Almanac reminds us that not everyone follows the Gregorian calendar. Easter Sunday is celebrated on April 9th by Catholics and most other Christians, but the Eastern Orthodox celebration of Easter doesn’t occur until April 16th.
| Year | Easter Sunday (Gregorian calendar) |
Eastern Orthodox Church (Julian calendar date converted to Gregorian) |
| 2023 | April 9 | April 16 |
The Farmers Almanac also explains how the date for Easter is ‘moveable’ (changes from year to year), while the date for Christmas is fixed on December 25th. “Easter is based on the lunar cycles of the Jewish calendar. In the Christian religion, the Last Supper (which was the final meal Jesus shared with his apostles before his crucifixion) was a Passover feast. It’s because Easter is based on a lunar month (which is 29.5 days) that the date of Easter can really vary.” Specifically, that source says: “Easter Sunday always occurs on the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon. What is the Paschal Full Moon? This is specifically the first Sunday following the full Moon that occurs on or after the March or spring equinox.”
“Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic, Greek, Latin) or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD.” So states Wikipedia, which may well be left-leaning, but is quite correct on those observations.
There is an ancient wisdom to annual and seasonal religious observances. Even a child being raised in a secular household may wonder what Yom Kippur, Christmas, Passover, or Easter means. Christianity grew out of Jewish roots, something that many, but certainly not all Christians fully grasp. There is the obvious oddity of some ‘Christian’ believers who are somehow anti-Semitic. Don’t tell that to Jesus, who the New Testament Scriptures clearly identify as a Jewish man. Jesus clearly said in John 4:22 that “we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” That context, as is routinely the case, is significant. Jesus was correcting a Samaritan woman he had encountered at Jacob’s Well. The full verse says: You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” (John 4:22 NIV).
MHProNews has for years routinely acknowledged various feasts, holidays, and celebrations – secular and religious. We have cited faiths that span the globe, not just Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. On a personal note, yesterday we celebrated with a neighbor her 75th birthday. Every guest she invited was from a faith that is not our own. Judging from appearances and what every guest said, they all had a great time and so did we. Not only ‘getting along’ with people who don’t share our views on certain things, but being able to embrace and celebrate some things with them has been necessary for millennia.
But once upon a time, if believers are correct, there were only two people on the earth. First Adam, then Eve. God created those first two humans – Adam and Eve – directly, says Genesis 2:4-3:24. Perhaps it is a useful thing that in doing so, God didn’t make two Eves, or two Adams. There doesn’t seem to be any battle of the pronouns described in Genesis. Nor is there any gender fluidity to be found anywhere in either the Hebrew (“Old Testament”) or Christian (New Testament) Scriptures. The first couple, after the ‘fall’ into sin had children. The indication is that from those first two humans in some way all the people of the world find their origin. If that be so, then at some early point in time, everyone but everyone knew who God was and all shared that belief. But Genesis also makes clear that it isn’t just Adam and Eve who got tricked into (sinfully) breaking the only original commandment (Genesis 2:7 NIV which said: “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”) The Creator of all made us to ‘live forever,’ with perfect bodies that would not have known over-or underweight, sickness or disease. But that one temptation into disobedience pulled humanity into the perennial choices between doing good or evil. We have free will. We make right, and wrong, choices on a routine basis. With the notable exception at the time of Christ, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… (Romans 3:23 NIV).
Once again, as with law or so many other matters in life, the context of Romans 3:23 is important. “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.” Flashing back to God, Adam, and Eve in the Garden of Eden after the fall of humanity into sin, God promised the following (Gen 3:15 NRSV).
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
The NIV puts Genesis 3:15 slightly differently.
“And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Oxford Languages explains “enmity” like this: “the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.” The hot linked “hostile” is defined as: “unfriendly; antagonistic” “of or belonging to a military enemy” and “opposed.” The devilish serpent who ‘tempted’ Adam, Eve (and the rest of humanity) is indeed the ultimate enemy. But the devil performs his temptations routinely by cloaking them as something good or desirable, regardless of what God might say.
Some might live their entire lives with little or not faith influences. That’s possible. Someone might live their entire lives rejecting manufactured housing, religion, or the notion that scientifically there are normally two genders which are male and female encoded into our very chromosomes. On 3.15.2021 MedlinePlus.Gov said: “Two of the chromosomes (the X and the Y chromosome) determine your sex as male or female when you are born. They are called sex chromosomes: Females have 2 X chromosomes. Males have 1 X and 1 Y chromosome.” Perhaps by running this article, some activist will tip off the Biden regime and let them know that they need to modify that outdate notion that there are only two sexes and that they are set at birth?
As attorney John Whitehead recently noted, we are living in an Orwellian era where Newspeak redefines words. Said Whitehead: “Orwell’s Big Brother relied on Newspeak to eliminate undesirable words, strip such words as remained of unorthodox meanings and make independent, non-government-approved thought altogether unnecessary. Where we stand now is at the juncture of Oldspeak (where words have meanings, and ideas can be dangerous) and Newspeak (where only that which is “safe” and “accepted” by the majority is permitted). Truth is often lost when we fail to distinguish between opinion and fact, and that is the danger we now face as a society.”
Christianity Today says of Whitehead: “John Whitehead argued that America is a Christian nation and that the Constitution was written to protect the right of states to uphold Christianity through law.” Wikipedia says of the nonprofit that Whitehead founded: “The Rutherford Institute is a conservative Christian[1] public interest law firm dedicated to the defense of civil liberties, human rights, and religious liberties. Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, the non-profit organization’s motto is “its our job to make the government play by the rules of the Constitution.”” While someone may dispute that Whitehead is a “conservative” Christian, based on his recent writings, the case is easily made that he believes in the rule of law and of trying to make government at any level “play by the rules of the Constitution.”
Not unlike liberal attorney turned journalist Glenn Greenwald, Whitehead laments the emasculation of the electorate by sources such as corporate dominated television. Meaning there are voices on the ‘left’ and ‘right’ are seeing some things rather similarly.
In a recent column, John and Nisha Whitehead wrote: “On average, Americans spend five hours a day watching television. By the time we reach age 65, we’re watching more than 50 hours of television a week, and that number increases as we get older.” Whitehead noted: “This [high volume of television viewing] doesn’t bode well for a citizenry able to sift through masterfully-produced propaganda in order to think critically about the issues of the day.”
“Ultimately, the reality shows, the entertainment news, the surveillance society, the militarized police, and the political spectacles have one common objective: to keep us divided, distracted, imprisoned, and incapable of taking an active role in the business of self-government,” said Whitehead, after citing various facts and sources, adding about modern media that: “they are little more than conduits for propaganda and advertisements delivered in the guise of entertainment and news.”
“The bottom line is simply this: Americans should beware of letting others—whether they be television news hosts, political commentators or media corporations—do their thinking for them.” Whitehead previously mentioned that: “Professor Jacques Ellul studied this phenomenon of overwhelming news, short memories and the use of propaganda to advance hidden agendas. “One thought drives away another; old facts are chased by new ones,” wrote Ellul.” “Ask yourselves: why are we being bombarded with crises, distractions, fake news and reality TV politics? We’re being conditioned like lab mice to subsist on a steady diet of bread-and-circus politics and an endless spate of crises.”
Among the headlines for the week that was that follows is one about what Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock and others involved with the World Economic Forum (WEF) have called “the Polycrisis.” Whitehead makes an interesting point when he says that this endless stream of shifting ‘crises’ results in many people having difficulty keeping up with the latest narrative meant to ‘distract’ and ‘divide’ the public.
More on such matters in today’s Postscript.
But first, let’s take our weekly romp through the most diverse array of information found online by any manufactured housing focused trade publication or blogger, MHProNews/MHLivingNews. Perhaps this diversity of information by an array of cited sources, is what makes this platform the runaway number one in all of manufactured housing.
With no further adieu, let’s pivot towards the headlines for the week that was from 4.2 to 4.9.2023.
What’s New and Recent on MHLivingNews
What’s New from Washington, D.C. from MHARR
What’s New on the Masthead
What’s New on the Daily Business News on MHProNews
Saturday 4.8.2023
Friday 4.7.2023
Thursday 4.6.2023
Wednesday 4.5.2023
Tuesday 4.4.2023
Monday 4.3.2023
Sunday 4.2.2023
Postscript
On WMAL out of the Washington, D.C. metro, a recent tag line used by that news-talk radio station is: “Making Sense of the News.” It is an interesting way to get people curious about something millions care about. Namely, how can we the people make sense out of the apparent madness that is occurring in America and in other ‘Western’ countries too? Returning to another recent Whitehead evidence-based thought-piece are these pull quotes. Note the first one is a quotation by Whitehead of a journalist.
- “This country has been having a nationwide nervous breakdown since 9/11. A nation of people suddenly broke, the market economy goes to shit, and they’re threatened on every side by an unknown, sinister enemy. But I don’t think fear is a very effective way of dealing with things—of responding to reality. Fear is just another word for ignorance.”—Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo journalist
- “We have become guinea pigs in a ruthlessly calculated, carefully orchestrated, chillingly cold-blooded experiment in how to control a population and advance a political agenda without much opposition from the citizenry.”
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As investigative journalist Mike Adams points out: “This psychological bombardment is waged primarily via the mainstream media which assaults the viewer by the hour with images of violence, war, emotions and conflict. Because the human nervous system is hard wired to focus on immediate threats accompanied by depictions of violence, mainstream media viewers have their attention and mental resources funneled into the never-ending ‘crisis of the NOW’ from which they can never have the mental breathing room to apply logic, reason or historical context.”
-
“All the while, the government continues to amass more power and authority over the citizenry.”
Let’s hold there and flashback to a report that MHProNews published approaching two years ago about Warren Buffett and his vice chairman Charlie Munger. Recall these pull quotes from an extended interview on left-leaning CNBC.
Then recall another previous report that cited two more Buffett quotes from left-leaning New York Times and the Washington Post.
A self-proclaimed former Democrat and former Washington Post reporter, Joel Kotkin has previously been cited by this platform and our MHLivingNews site too. Kotkin has been doing research at Chapman University. Kotkin has spoken about the rise of American feudalism and how that is erroding the American Dream of home ownership in California and beyond.
Liberal attorney and nonprofit leader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed papers to launch a bid for the 2024 Democratic nomination for the presidency. Kennedy is a critic of Joe Biden (D), and the Democratic Biden White House is a critic of Kennedy and those who ‘associate’ with him. Kennedy laments the power that several named leftists billionaires have over U.S. politics, business, media, tech, etc. Kennedy has several lawsuits underway, one against the so-called Trusted News Initiative (TNI). Kennedy rips “establishment” Republicans as well as “Establishment” Democrats, who he sees as increasingly dominating Democratic politics.
Kennedy is also a vocal critic of the WHO and the World Economic Forum (WEF), which has included appearances by Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, BlackRocks’ Larry Fink, George Soros and other left-leaning billionaires.
For several years, MHProNews and our MHLivingNews sister site have documented step-by-step that from across the left-right divide there are thoughtful, evidence-based professionals who are sounding the alarm over the loss of economic, social, religious, cultural, and political freedom in America. Hundreds of media outlets have picked up various news reports by MHProNews in the last year alone, including the Economic Observer news site. They spotlighted our news analysis of the report linked below.
That is part of how MHProNews helps professionals ‘make sense of the news.’ There are some that simply have a hard time wrapping their heads around the notion that someone or some group of people might want to limit business in order to dominate an industry sector. But the evidence for that in manufactured housing is extensive. A recent example, with others linked from it is found in the report linked below.
Today is Easter Sunday. The first day of Easter (Easter is a week and a Season for Catholics and mainline Christians) is a good time for reflection. On what? On what may be the most powerful force possible to tap into for correcting what has gone wrong in our profession and others.
Yes, MHVille could benefit from attorneys launching the correct kinds of lawsuits with the right (vs wrong) kinds of motivations.
Yes, it would be nice if ‘industry leaders’ did spew out apparent, purported BS thinking that others might swallow it without first sniffing it.
Said Whitehead:
“Even when the motives behind this rigidly calibrated reorientation of societal language appear well-intentioned—discouraging racism, condemning violence, denouncing discrimination and hatred—inevitably, the end result is the same: intolerance, indoctrination, infantilism, the chilling of free speech and the demonizing of viewpoints that run counter to the cultural elite.
Labelling something as “fake news” is a masterful way of dismissing truth that may run counter to the ruling power’s own narrative.
As George Orwell recognized, “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.””
Jumping ahead, they wrote this.
“Given the preponderance of news-as-entertainment programming, it’s no wonder that viewers have largely lost the ability to think critically and analytically and differentiate between truth and propaganda, especially when delivered by way of fake news criers and politicians.
The bottom line is simply this: Americans should beware of letting others—whether they be television news hosts, political commentators or media corporations—do their thinking for them.”
One can widely concur with that and it is important to note that no article, including ours, can cover everything of relevance in x number of words. Our eighty precent friends are not our twenty percent enemies. The Rutherford Institute fights pro-bono cases for, among other things, religious liberty.
It is precisely the faith community that holds a historic key for change in the United States of America. While there are voices on the left and right calling for a ‘national divorce,’ a splitting of the U.S. into so-called ‘blue states’ and other ‘red states,’ that perhaps well-meaning notion is impractical. Who will keep Communist China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, and Iran in check if the U.S. were to seriously split into two countries? Isn’t it entirely possible that half of the U.S. – the left-leaning half – could end up ‘allying’ with Communist China and their allies? If someone wants to hasten Abraham Lincoln’s warning coming true, push for a national divorce.
We make the periodic case for the rule of law, because the lack of the rule of law is near the root of what’s gone wrong in America.
But at the core of every human problem is a nasty three letter word: sin. As we each have our own preferred ones, it is a magnificent tool for manipulators to manipulate the population with some ‘sin.’
In Matthew 8:25, we read: “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” Indeed, we need that prayer routinely, daily. But it history reminds us of “ora et labora” “prayer and [good] works.” We need both. We routinely inject the element of faith because ignoring that is a sure fire way of turning over the country to those who loathe religion and its authentic power.
When we believe that the dead can rise to life, then we believe that God’s power can be manifest in surprising and compelling ways. That’s NOT to say that we sit back and do nothing while we wait for God to act. From the Exodus from the slavery of Egypt, which Passover marks, to more modern times, God asks His people to do certain things which He then blesses. The seemingly powerless Israelites held captive by then powerful Egypt was accomplished by a combination of human and divine wonders. Can God do it solo? The answer is obvious for those who believe that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (see Genesis 1:1). This sacred season is an apt reminder that time and again throughout human history, God and people have working together produces wonderous results. That’s the real bottom line. That’s the real reason we should never lose hope. Ora et Labora. We pray like it all depends on God. We work like it all depends on us, and we work in the fashion that is prudent and not ignorant or stupid. Happy Easter. ###
Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, as well as our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.’
