For anyone secretly convinced that, in defiance of most atlases, New York is the capital of the world, the recent encounter between the chief executives of two conventional capital cities, the mayor of Buenos Aires, Jorge Telerman, and the mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski, was a heartwarming affair.

On a three-day trip to study Israeli emergency procedures for urban disasters, Mr. Telerman showed up half an hour late to meet Mr. Lupolianski, who was waiting at a large conference table laden with chocolate cream cakes.

Mr. Telerman, who ascended to Argentina’s capital mayoralty last March following the impeachment of his predecessor, faces a fiercely contested election in June. A few minutes into the meeting, the conversation turned to the Galicianer origin of both mayors, and an assistant to Mr. Lupolianski cheerfully predicted, “if we look into it, we’ll find out you are cousins! Talented cousins!”

At the possibility of this happy coincidence, Lupo, as he is known around the Israeli capital, invited Mr. Telerman to the “40th birthday party of reunification.” The “huge fiesta,” planned for mid-October, will celebrate the end of the 1967 Six-Day War, in which Israel took possession of East Jerusalem. “I’d be honored!” Mr. Telerman gushed in reply.

“Only the mayors of capital cities are invited,” Mr. Lupolianski underscored, for what will also be the 25th annual Jerusalem Mayors’ Conference, a wonkfest with little to draw the attention of the average citizen. “Mayor Bloomberg is coming. And the mayor of Moscow. And Delanoë from Paris. And maybe the mayor of Prague,” Mr. Lupolianski said. “We’re all going to be together to talk about the problems of big cities. Bloomberg will give a big talk.” No one explained of which nation New York is a capital.

“Baruch ha shem I’ll be back here,” replied Mr. Telerman, who was fresh from a quick hop to the Western Wall. His press assistant, Ivonne Cikurel, silently calculated that even if he were (God forbid) to lose the election, he would remain in power until December. “Now I have a great reason to win!”

“Bloomberg is coming?” he repeated, impressed. “Maybe we can send a tango band, or something? As an homage of Buenos Aires to Yerushalayim?”

Mr. Telerman, who is completely bald, needle-thin, hyperactive, sardonic, proudly secular, and a father of two, and Mr. Lupolianski, who is hirsute, paunchy, rather languid, genial, fervently-Orthodox, and a father of 12, were both brought up in traditional Jewish homes.

Whereas Mr. Telerman is the first Jew to hold the position of head of government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, his official title, Mr. Lupolianski, who became very Orthodox in his youth, is the first observant Jew to hold his job. (Discounting King David, of course.)

At the mention of an homage, Mr. Lupolianski’s aides beamed. The two principals prepared to exchange official gifts. Mr. Telerman brought Mr. Lupolianski a burnished dark-wood bandoneon, the miniature accordion with which the tango is played, concealing CDs of classic tangos in the folds of its bellows. The instrument, presented in what looked like a fancy inlaid jewel box, carried a hidden Jewish wink; many of Argentina’s tango greats were Jewish gauchos or their offspring. The Israelis appeared oblivious.

Mr. Lupolianski presented Mr. Telerman with a leather-bound facsimile of a medieval illuminated Bible. Mr. Telerman thumbed through it, oohing and ahing.

Perhaps to stave off an ambiance increasingly removed from politics and approaching that of a bar mitzvah, Mr. Lupolianski pointed out that “we gave the same Bible to Bloomberg just before he won — and he won very big. And we gave it also to the mayor of Warsaw. He also won, and now he is president of Poland! And you never know about Bloomberg … “

With this joking talismanic auguring, even Mr. Telerman, who has become embroiled in something of a spat with Argentina’s president, Nestor Kirshner, balked, blushed, smiled, and said, “No, no. I want only to continue to be mayor.”

The conversation eventually made its way back to the reunification gala of October 10, and an aide to Mr. Lupolianski inquired, “Maybe you will also do something in Buenos Aires? In addition?”

Mr. Lupolianski said, “Michael Bloomberg, my friend, was just here again, with his mother. He made a big donation.”

“You see him a lot?” Mr. Telerman asked. Then, sheepishly but, with hope, he requested, “Next time, tell him I’m trying to meet with him. We are having a lot of problems trying to, um, find anyone there. In April I have a visit to New York, and I’d love to see him. … “

Ms. Tarnopolsky is a freelance writer who lives in Jerusalem.