Hana Bimba Brenner
In a fragmented world, sincere interfaith dialogue – rooted in one’s own identity and expressed through shared action – is not merely a community practice; it is our hope.
The future of human coexistence does not depend on eliminating differences, but on learning to live with them. This conviction challenges a deeply rooted impulse: the idea that harmony requires uniformity. Yet history and experience show the opposite. Attempts to erase differences often lead not to peace, but to silence, exclusion, or conflict.
Difference is not a problem to solve – it is a reality to inhabit.
I grew up in Israel, a country that taught me to face difficulties, to engage with different cultures and faith communities, to share diverse and often painful life stories, and to experience immigration and uprootedness. It was a place where I, as an Israeli citizen, lived Judaism not only as a religion, but as a way of life.
At the age of twenty, I traveled to Europe to study, where I encountered a globalized society. There, I came to understand that it was I who needed to take the step toward the Other, while at the same time preserving who I am: learning to know and respect the other while remaining faithful to my own identity and my faith.
This personal journey reflects a broader truth: living with difference means more than tolerating others. It calls for an active commitment—to listen without immediately judging, to speak without imposing, and to remain present even when agreement is out of reach. It requires the courage to stand firmly in one’s own identity while remaining open to the humanity of others.
Interfaith dialogue embodies this delicate balance. It does not ask participants to dilute their beliefs or abandon their traditions. On the contrary, it invites them to engage more deeply with their own roots while encountering others with respect and sincerity. When this dialogue moves beyond words into shared action, it becomes transformative.
Our group, named “Dialogue and Coexistence,” reflects the spirit of its members – women of faith, each deeply committed and active in her own community or ancient culture. For 32 years, this interfaith women’s group within the Lamroth Hakol Jewish Community has sustained hope in practice. We are women from different branches of Christianity, Jewish women, and Indigenous women. We meet once a month to learn about each other’s traditions and foundations. Together, we explore themes such as rituals, guilt, religious celebrations, life, and death.
Each meeting begins with a simple yet profound gesture: we light a candle, blessed by one of the participants, and recite a prayer that we created together – with the blessing of Margit Baumatz, who founded the group and was the first Latin American rabbi of the Conservative movement.
The motto that guides us expresses both a commitment and a challenge:
“Walking together, recognizing our common ground and reconciling our differences.”
The roots of our work reach much further back. The Lamroth Hakol Jewish community and the Nuestra Señora de la Guardia Catholic Church began interfaith dialogue 70 years ago with a mission to break barriers—holding meetings and shared meals. The priest Pooli and Rabbi Hirsch became close friends, marking the first organized interfaith dialogue in Argentina.
Our group was also born in one of the darkest moments of Argentine history. On July 18, 1994, a car bomb destroyed the AMIA building in Buenos Aires. The Amia is the main Jewish institution, founded in 1894 as a centre of the Jewish communities, historical archive and social help.
Ninety-five people were murdered – Jews and non-Jews, passersby and workers alike. In the days that followed, a group of women from the church came to express condolences and denounce violence. Out of that horror, hope was born.
This spirit also guides my work as an educator. Through teaching Judaism in universities, within the Catholic bishopric, in liturgy courses, and in programs for young catechists, I have witnessed meaningful changes in students’ understanding and attitudes. I invite them to attend Kabbalat Shabbat services, introduce them to sacred texts, and share Israeli and Jewish music. I have learned that lived experience has the power to break down walls and barriers.
Together with our group, we have organized workshops, presentations, and celebrations of different religious festivals. We have also documented our journey in two books commemorating 20 and 30 years of interfaith dialogue. Beyond our local work, I participate in interfaith commissions connected to the Argentinian congress, including the Interreligious Circle of Legislators and the Interfaith Women’s Commission of Argentina. With the latter, we have traveled to other provinces to hold encounters and conventions.
During my visits to Israel, I had the privilege of meeting twice the Vatican envoy, Fray Alberto Joan Pari, a Franciscan monk responsible for interreligious dialogue in the Middle East. He lives in the Custodia Terrae Sanctae Monastery in Jerusalem. A young man of remarkable wisdom and empathy, we spoke in Italian, English, and fluent Hebrew. He founded there a music conservatory for Christian Arab and Jewish students.
Recently, he shared photographs of participating in an interfaith Seder, even amid conflict in the region – proof that dialogue persists when it is most needed.
Such work unfolds slowly, through relationships built over time, through shared experiences, and through the steady practice of dialogue. Yet its impact reaches far beyond any single group. In a world often marked by polarization and mistrust, these spaces become living examples of another way of being together.
They remind us that coexistence is not achieved through grand declarations alone, but through daily acts of encounter—through choosing dialogue over silence, collaboration over separation, and understanding over fear.
Ultimately, the hope for our shared future lies not in becoming the same, but in learning how to walk together—faithfully, honestly, and with a shared commitment to the dignity of all.
For more photos, see:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/aCZ3N3dYTDxMueg26
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DfuoFMq52nmCed9K6
Our National women’s interfaith group in the province of Salta.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9mf4Un4WRMN5tR5K6
Here are some photos of our meetings in the Jewish community of Lamroth Hakol
Celebrating Rosh Hashana; Interfaith in the Círculo de Legisladores, next to the Argentinian congress Is members are all ex-senators or deputies or actual ones.
In the photos, we are making Hafrashat Challah for Shabat, A photo with Fray Alberto Joan Pari in the monastery in Jerusalem.
