Imagine being a rabbi at the helm of a community where Judaism is actively embraced; a city where Jews enthusiastically attend synagogue, keep Shabbat, send their kids to Jewish day school and honour the laws of kashrut. If this is a rabbi’s dream, then Panama City is that dream come true.

New York Rabbi Aaron Laine first arrived at Beth El, an Ashkenazi congregation in the Panama subdivision of Paitilla, 23 years ago. Back then, only one person kept the Sabbath.

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