Jewish life
9 shuls listed. Last checked November 2026: 9 by official site.
Before your first visit, register with the community security office. Visitor registration · The eruv · Hotels near shul
Synagogue · Orthodox Sephardi (Shevet Ahim) · Punta Paitilla
Shevet Ahim branch synagogue in Punta Paitilla, in the same complex as Ateret Yosef, with many minyanim throughout the day. The most convenient Sephardi shul for visitors staying in Paitilla.
Synagogue · Orthodox Sephardi (Shevet Ahim) · Punta Paitilla
Sanctuary that shares a building with Ahavat Sion in Paitilla, added later on an adjoining lot; part of the Shevet Ahim network.
Synagogue · Orthodox Sephardi (Shevet Ahim) · Punta Pacífica
Shevet Ahim's Punta Pacífica synagogue, close to the JW Marriott and the Pacific Center towers, with a mikveh on site.
Synagogue · Orthodox Ashkenazi; community center · Paitilla
The Ashkenazi community's synagogue and center, led by Rabbi Aaron Laine since 1994 and in its Paitilla building since 2014. It has two sanctuaries, event halls and the Mikveh Rachel.
Chabad house · Chabad house, Shabbat meals, rooms, women's mikveh · Bajo Boquete
Chabad house in the highland town of Boquete, Chiriquí, run by Rabbi Yakov and Hana Poliwoda. It hosts Shabbat prayers and meals, runs Morton's Bakehouse and takeout meat dinners, rents rooms upstairs and has a women's mikveh.
Chabad house · Chabad house, synagogue, Shabbat meals, restaurant · Bocas Town
Chabad house in Bocas Town on Isla Colón, run by Rabbi Moti and Sarit Cohen, serving the many Israeli and Jewish backpackers. It has daily and Shabbat services, Shabbat meals by registration, the Sababa meat restaurant and a temporary women's mikveh.
Chabad house · Chabad house, minyanim, Shabbat meals, visitor center · Paitilla
Chabad house in Paitilla run by Rabbi Mendi and Braha Karniel. It is the main address for traveling Jews: three minyanim daily year-round, large communal Friday-night and Shabbat-lunch meals by reservation, Shabbat take-out, a men's mikveh and a visitor-information service.
Synagogue · Reform; community center and museum · Costa del Este
Founded in 1876, Panama's oldest congregation and its only Reform one. Its Costa del Este center (opened 2006) has a main sanctuary, a small chapel, a library and the Panamanian Jewish Museum, with cemetery records back to 1876.
Synagogue · Orthodox Sephardi; community headquarters · Bella Vista (La Cresta)
The original synagogue and headquarters of Shevet Ahim, the Sephardi community founded in 1933 and by far the largest Jewish community in Panama. The building holds several sanctuaries with their own minyanim, and Rabbi David Perets is the community's chief rabbi.
Community bodies, schools, cemeteries and other community services. Most need the same security registration as the shuls.
School · Jewish day school (Orthodox) · Bethania
Orthodox Jewish day school founded in the late 1970s.
Shabbat kiddush sign-up · Shabbat hospitality · Paitilla
Beth El invites visitors to sign up online for Shabbat at the shul and its kiddush lunch, which a 2025 magazine article describes as prepaid.
Cemetery · Sephardi Jewish cemetery · Río Abajo
The Shevet Ahim community's Jewish cemetery, in the Río Abajo district of Panama City.
Community · Jewish social and sports club · Coco del Mar
The community's social club in Coco del Mar, with a certified kosher kitchen used for simchas and community events.
School · Jewish day school (Reform), IB · Ciudad del Saber (Clayton)
Day school affiliated with Kol Shearith Israel (Reform), opened in 2000 and part of the International Baccalaureate network.
Community · Umbrella body of the Jewish communities · Panama City
Umbrella organization that represents Panama's Jewish communities and runs the Hebrew Central Community Center.
School · Jewish day school (Orthodox), preschool to high school · San Francisco
The oldest of Panama's Jewish day schools, founded in the mid-1950s, with a bilingual program from preschool through high school.
Cemetery · Chevra kadisha (burial society) · Costa del Este
Kol Shearith Israel's volunteer burial society, which performs tahara and shmira and supports families during the first days of mourning.
Kashrut agency · The country's main kashrut certifier · Bella Vista
The kashrut department of the Sephardi Shevet Ahim community. It certifies essentially every kosher restaurant, caterer and kosher supermarket in Panama, plus many locally made products, and publishes the official list of certified establishments and products at kosher.com.pa.
Zmanim · Candle lighting, havdalah and daily halachic times · Panama City
Panama City's local communities publish Shabbat times themselves: Chabad on chabadpanama.com/jewish-zmanim, Shevet Ahim in its weekly 'Anuncios Comunitarios', and Beth El on its home page. All three light candles 18 minutes before sunset. Shabbat ends at about 8.5 degrees below the horizon for Chabad (for example 6:27 PM on 7 November 2026, sunset 5:55 PM). Shevet Ahim and Beth El publish an end time about 35 minutes after sunset (Shevet Ahim: 6:24 / 7:17 PM for 18-19 July 2025; Beth El: 6:11 / 7:03 PM for 28-29 August 2026). Panama keeps UTC-5 all year with no daylight saving, and sunset moves by only about 48 minutes over the year (about 5:54 PM to 6:42 PM).
Community · Museum and library · Costa del Este
Museum and library in the Kol Shearith Israel center covering the Sephardi Caribbean families who founded the community, with family trees, cemetery records from 1876, marriage records from 1885 and an oral-history archive.
Shabbat elevators · Residential buildings with elevators certified for Shabbat · Bella Vista, La Cresta, Paitilla, Punta Pacífica; also Coronado
Shevet Ahim publishes a list of 17 elevators it certifies for Shabbat use. They are in residential towers: Balboa Tower, Costanera, Pacific Park and The Palace in Bella Vista; Cresta Palace in La Cresta; Aventura, Lalique, Mirage, Península and Punta Roca in Paitilla; Pacific Point Torre 200 and Oceanaire in Punta Pacífica; and Coral Coronado at the beach. Each listing names the specific elevator and, for most, a maximum number of riders.
Every community building here, the Chabad house included, admits visitors only after they register with the community security office (DSI). Register well before you fly and carry your passport.
Minyan times change with the season and aren’t all published, so confirm the week’s times with the shul or with Chabad before Shabbat.
Yes. Panama’s Jewish community buildings share one security office, and visitors must be approved before their first visit. How visitor registration works.
Yes, over the main Jewish neighborhoods. No public weekly status notice exists, so ask at your shul or at Chabad on Friday. About the eruv.
Talk to a person
Two people answer: Jack and Shlomo. WhatsApp is usually fastest. You can also write to info@panamaunpacked.com.