USO - JWB Balboa Panama

05/10/2024

For those asking about the former USO - JWB located on La Boca Road in Balboa, here is the page with information.

24/04/2020

A fascinating bit of history...

27/02/2018

LEAD: Rabbi Nathan Witkin, who served for three decades as a chaplain ministering to United States armed services personnel and their families in the Canal Zone. died Tuesday at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida. He was 88 years old and had lived in retirement in Sarasota since 1978.

27/02/2018

JWB Community photos submitted by Jeff Hirschl

21/01/2018

An interesting story about Rabbi Witkin saving some Jews during the Holocaust:

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03/09/2015

TBT - Shabbat Services at the USO-JWB circa 1960. Seymour Barkowitz (center) and Rabbi Witkin (left.) Please add other names!

26/06/2014

Shared by Louis Seldon: A question I always wondered about but never asked, so recently I remember a "life line" & emailed Hindi Diamond for the answer to: why there weren't any Synagogues in the old CZ & the aircraft accident that killed the Rabbi Witkins' wife in the JWB on La Boca Rd. during WWII? Hindi's reply & thanks to Hindi for her reply & permission to share this with you:
Dear Lou
I remember clearly because I had just been in Panama about a year.
It was a tremendous shock to the entire community. A plane crashed into the building.
Mrs. Witkin, the Rabbi’s first wife whose name I don’t remember, was taking a bath and she was killed instantly. By the way, she was pregnant with their first child, a son who is now a doctor at the Mayo Clinic!
His second wife, Helen Witkin and he had a daughter, who had a congenital defect and died as a teenager.
There were synagogues in Panama City, Kol Shearith was the first, composed of reform Jews, mostly who had come over first from the Caribbean islands when they suffered from a terrible hurricane.
The second synagogue was the Beneficencia Israelita, made up of European Jews (Ashkenazi) many who were allowed entry to Panama after Hi**er and the Holocaust. Also some Jewish soldiers came there, especially ones who had married while serving in Panama.
And the third was the Sephardic group of Jews, I forgot the name of their synagogue which actually was the biggest, because they had the most Jews in Panama that all came from turkey, Egypt and those countries.
So maybe I have given you an idea about why there were no synagogues in the Canal zone, except the JCC which was used by us, American jews and servicemen.
Let me know if that answers your question..
All the best to your wife, as always, your friend Hindi Zahra