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Good morning. It’s manifesto week. A time for our political candidates to face the scrutiny of media coverage of their respective prescriptions for our country, as they ask for our votes. They may remember the familiar charge, that politicians ‘campaign in poetry but govern in prose’. As we all know, pledges and promises are cheap, their real challenge is keeping their word in deed. There is an important message for them, and us, to take from the festival of Shavuot, which will be celebrated over the next two days by Jewish communities around the world. Judaism is, at its core, the story of two mountains: Mount Sinai and Mount Moriah. Shavuot is the anniversary of the historic moment when the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Remarkably, despite this, Sinai is not a celebrated Holy site today. In fact, it has largely been ignored. So much so, that historians differ as to its exact location. Mount Moriah, however, is very different. For well over four millennia, it has been not just the centre of the city of Jerusalem, but also the heart of Jewish faith. It was the site of two Holy Temples and has continued to be the focus of Jewish prayer to this day. Why the difference? Sinai was the site where a manifesto for an uplifted and fulfilling life was joyfully accepted, but Moriah is where it was carried out. Sinai is where God’s word was introduced. At Moriah, where both Temples stood, it is lived to this very day. For Jews, the most sacred place on earth is not the location where promises were made, but where they were acted upon. Politics can sometimes leave us feeling cynical, but there are countless people across the country who make a personal commitment to affecting real change, without any grand pledge or promise. In Jewish circles, the title given to a communal leader is ‘macher’. It’s a Yiddish term, which means ‘someone who makes things happen’. In the same way as ‘the crown’ refers to the monarch who wears it, and ‘first violin’ relates to the orchestra’s lead musician who plays it, so too with ‘macher’ – our leaders are those who focus primarily on actively transforming the lives of others for the better. Of course, our elected representatives have to ‘campaign in poetry’ in asking for our votes, but ultimately, both they and we are defined not by the promises we make, but by the action we take.