Yesterday evening’s meeting with a large group of people from several Jewish communities in Argentina and Uruguay was the first appointment in a series of appointments which will take place over the next few days with the president of the Focolare, Maria Voce as she visits various sites of the Movement in the Cono Sud. The appointment was held in the magnificent Golden Hall of the San Martin Palace, which is the Seat of the Argentine Foreign Affairs Ministry. Here there were authorities from the Secretariat for Religious Affairs who welcomed Maria Voce. The external context could have made you think of a formal reunion, but the long friendship that has been established over the years with the Jewish community in Argentina immediately transformed the evening into a family gathering for dialogue and discussion among brothers and sisters. The under secretary, Ambassador Juan Landaburu, concluded his remarks by underscoring that Argentina has made interreligious dialogue a real and true politics of the State.  There followed a series of presentations recalling the different stages of the friendship between the Focolare with members of the different Jewish communities in these lands.  “Here are your Jewish brothers and sisters presenting themselves before you, with our faces, our stories, and our willingness,” began Rabbi Silvina Chemen. Paul Varsawsky, pointed to the need to gather around the message of the Bible and mentioned the role that the “Golden Rule” (Do not do to others what you would not want to be done to you) assumes for the three great monotheistic religions. Additional presentations underscored the importance of four Jewish-Christian symposiums that were held for twelve years at Mariapolis Lia, 250 km from Buenos Aires; as well as the figure of Lia Brunet, one of the first companions of Chiara Lubich, who gave a strong push to this dialogue of the Focolare. One event that was several times mentioned as an essential part of this friendship was Chiara Lubich’s visit, in 1998, to the B’nai B’rith during one of her visits to Argentina, where she formulated a pact of mutual love together with those who joined her as she lit the Menorah. A few questions for Maria Voce gave her the opportunity to discuss a few different topics. How will the Movement carry on without Chiara and with Maria Voce? “Chiara was the bearer of a collective and communitarian spirituality. . . you need at least two people to live it, because it requires reciprocal love, which is both given and received. I never felt alone in succeeding Chiara, because I felt that the entire Movement was with me. And all of you are also contained in this commitment, and I feel that, together, we can walk along the path that was opened by Chiara.” What can we do so that the dialogue among us is not limited to a circle of specialists? “We need to look to the neighbor beside us as a brother or a sister. In this way we will begin a never-ending chain. In this way we will be able to reach everyone, and overcome prejudices and the difficult situations that have arisen in history. Finding it possible to have trust between us, we must abolish suspicion and sincerely love one another. . . this will help us to reach all of society.” We belong to the same family because we are children of God and we must always turn to Him, but we have to arrive together.” The meeting ended. Everyone joined arms and sang: “Hine ma tov umanaim, Shevet ajim gam iajad (How sweet it is when brothers live in unity), from Psalm 133. Then it was time to say goodbye. . . as brothers and sisters often do. di Alberto Barlocci