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Presentation
The Editors

This issue on Mary (or Miriam, as she would have been called in Hebrew), has been inspired by the International Symposium on "Mary in Judaism and Islam Today" which was held at the Servite Fathers' "Marianum" during October, 1986.
Space has not permitted us to publish the section dealing with Islam. In what concerns Judaism, moreover, we were obliged unfortunately to shorten each article, even omitting whole sections. It should be remembered, in addition. that the style of our contributions is that of the spoken, rather than the written word.
The choice of subject is linked also to the decision of Pope John Paul II to place what remains of this century, and particularly the time from June 1987 to August 1988 (which he has declared a Marian year), under the patronage of Mary, the mother of Jesus. This is an encouragement to Christians, Roman Catholics especially, to recognize more and more the necessity for a deepening of the knowledge of and an esteem for the Jewish roots of our faith, taking as our starting point in this instance the fact that Mary of Nazareth is the Jewess who gave birth to Jesus the Jew. Since through him Christians go back to the beginnings of their faith in Judaism, we can look upon Mary as she who stands at the crossroads where the two traditions meet and whose presence there enables us to recognize what is common to them both, thereby calling us to an ever deeper dialogue.
The article of Fr. Serra demonstrates to what degree many of the fundamental themes of Marian tradition owe their origins to Judaism, whether it be through individual women or the Jewish people itself. Fr. Dubois shares with us his conviction that something of the destiny of the people of Israel can be seen in that of Mary's own destiny, and that an understanding of the mystery of Israel can enlighten Christians on the meaning of the place that Mary occupies in the divine plan. Through Avital Wohlman's contribution we can see better why it is that Jews in general do not speak about Mary or her role as Jesus' mother. She does this with honesty about her own position and a respect for that of her dialogue partner, thus making a valuable contribution to the Jewish Christian dialogue and its fundamental conditions of a mutual exchange, based on an appreciation of the other as he/she is.
Let us hope that, as we go forward in our dialogue, it may include not only the figure of Jesus the Jew, but also her from whom he took his Jewishness and who, after him, holds for so many Christians an eminent place in the economy of salvation.