I’ve come across a number of Native American prayers and it always amazes me how easily they could be included in our liturgy because they represent so many of our values we should convey to our children through word and deed. I read this one and felt it had to be shared with you as we approach Passover and springtime, always a longed-for season, and especially today:

Hold on to what is good,

Even if it’s a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe,

Even if it’s a tree which stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do,

Even if it is a long way from here.

Hold on to life,

Even if it’s easier letting go.

Hold on to the hand of your neighbor,

Even when we are apart.

As never before perhaps, we’ve longed for the time when what we’ve held dear as Jews and as Americans peek through the frozen earth. Unfortunately, democracy itself is on the line, but it seems that justice will prevail, God-willing, as our instruments to preserve the foundations of democracy have emerged from corruption, self-serving administrators, and so many other evils against which our forefounders revolted.

Perfection? Oh, my, no. We were never perfect; we never will be perfect. Nevertheless, we were probably as far from the good in recent years as ever before in the history of our nation. Today we see a light, and a path forward.

That’s what drew me to the prayer of the Native American…

We must always “hold on to what is good.”

S H A B B A T S H A L O M!