Panama’s Jewish community has long stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the residents of Eretz Yisroel. That bond was on full display when Ezra Cohen, Ambassador of Panama to Israel, spent an inspiring day in Netivot—the flourishing makom Torah often called the “Kingdom of Torah” in the South. During his visit, he toured the city’s vibrant network of mosdos chinuch, Torah, and chessed, and met with the city’s rabbanim and community leaders. 

The visit was part of the ongoing support that Panama’s kehillos provide to Netivot’s mosdos Torah and chessed. In a meeting with the city’s rabbanim, the ambassador expressed great admiration for Netivot’s dramatic growth, in terms of the significant expansion of its neighborhoods and the flourishing of its Torah and educational institutions. 

He also entered several of the city’s bustling batei kollel, packed with lomdim delving into the sugyos of Abaye v’Rava, and voiced powerful excitement at the kol Torah rising from the city’s heichalei Torah and kollelim. “The mosdos Torah in the Negev are Netivot’s ‘Iron Dome,’” he said, adding that Panama’s own existence rests on its support of those who toil in Torah. 

The ambassador’s words made a deep impression on everyone accompanying the hours-long tour, during which he could not hide his wonder at the number of talmidim and the magnificent facilities at their disposal, ken ayin hora. “The investment in chinuch here is clearly evident,” he said with emotion. 

The highlight of the visit was to the kollelim packed with avreichim across the city. In every beis midrash he entered, he was surprised by the sheer number of avreichim immersed in the world of Torah and shared his impressions with the roshei kollel and rabbanim. A special stop was made at the Yaadir Torah network of kollelim in the Negev, headed by HaRav HaGaon Rav Aharon Assayag, shlit”a, where elite avreichim from the finest yeshivos are immersed in Torah learning all day. 

The tour continued through Netivot’s magnificent mosdos Torah and chinuch, where many hundreds of talmidim learn. The ambassador expressed tremendous admiration for the impressive school buildings, unmatched anywhere else in the country, paying special visits to the “Zichru” and “Chanichei HaYeshivos” Talmud Torahs, and others. 

Alongside the major investment in maintaining kollelim and building fine mosdos chinuch, the ambassador was introduced to the city’s vast chessed network that supports, sustains, and uplifts avreichim and their families. He was told that Netivot hosts numerous gemachim, including Gemach Ahavas Chessed, which, to date, has provided interest-free loans totaling $10 million to avreich families in the South. 

As part of Rav Assayag’s extensive work, a Hachnasas Kallah fund was established, through which families marrying off their children receive $5,000(!) in cash and vouchers at select wedding essentials stores, to help them meet the chosson and kallah’s needs. 

In the middle of the visit, the severe housing crisis facing the chareidi public in Eretz Yisroel was raised. In an unprecedented initiative, Beit Halevi launched extraordinary assistance for yeshiva graduates who marry and seek to live in a premier makom Torah: a rare $50,000(!!!) grant toward an apartment in Beit Halevi’s avreich neighborhood. The initiative sent shockwaves across the country—especially through the great yeshivos—by offering a real solution to the housing shortage. In a short time, 160 avreich families received the unique grant and purchased homes in Phase I of Kiryat Beit Halevi. 

Rav Assayag’s sweeping vision is truly revolutionary. At the neighborhood’s cornerstone event, attended by gedolei Yisroel, the rabbanim and roshei yeshiva were effusive over the tremendous success, b’siyata d’Shmaya, in establishing a makom Torah and providing a unique answer to the plight of married bnei Torah in Israel. 

The ambassador’s visit concluded at the offices of ‘Mateh HaChessed – Yadir Torah in the Negev’, where he heard firsthand how the center was founded immediately after the war that broke out on October 7th, 2023, to meet the surge of requests for help following the start of the war: evacuating families from the South, and providing emotional, financial, educational, and material support. The connection, of course, being that Panamanian Jewry played a special role during the emergency appeal and ongoing aid. 

The visit ended, leaving a powerful impression of the blessed, unceasing activity in this southern city of Torah and sparking a strong desire to partner in its thriving work for the scores of bnei Torah in the Negev.