1999-03-19 Panama-Superkosher |
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By Donald H. Harrison Panama City, Panama (Special) -- American Jews accustomed to finding a small "kosher" section at their supermarkets do a double-take at the Super Kosher Store here. It looks like any other supermarket, only here the small section is for the "nonkosher" foods. The 15,000 square-foot supermarket is the largest, but not the only, kosher food store in this community of 7,000 Jews where it is estimated that more than 85 percent of the families -- perhaps as much as 95 percent -- observe kashrut.
Zakay's family came to Panama from Jerusalem, his father serving as a chazzan in Colon, a city on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. Although early Jewish settlement was in that city, today it is almost entirely in Panama City. When the Zakay family opened their first store 40 years ago, the Jewish community in Panama numbered about 2,000. "We decided to build something that would serve the community," Zakay said. "In the beginning it was difficult: people were not quite observant." Under the guidance of Rabbi Sion Levy, who has served the large Shevet Ahim Synagogue for nearly a half century, the Zakays kept their prices for kosher foods competitive with the prices offered for nonkosher foods at other markets. Generally, kosher meat and poultry cuts are no more than 10-15 percent higher. In part this is possible because the community, rather than the store, pays the salaries of the shochtim (ritual slaughterers). "We make kosher observance very easy," said Moises A. Mizrachi, a leader in the Jewish community here and a former Panamanian ambassador to Israel. "That is why most people observe kashrut here." From a small store, the Zakays moved to a larger one. Five years ago,
they opened a full-fledged supermarket. It includes a kosher lunch counter
and sitting area, where shoppers can taste some of the kosher delicacies
right on site.
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