The Real Air Traffic Control at Bocas Del Toro

An amazing Hashgacha Pratis story from a unique Chabad House.

I sat with the shliach Rabbi Yariv Klein, who was in Israel for a short visit recently, and I heard from him this story I had a hard time believing it. But facts and pictures backed up this amazing and most unusual account, absolutely proving that the reality was beyond anything one could possibly imagine.

 “When my friend Rabbi Motti Cohen and I arrived in Bocas del Toro, a picturesque and heavily toured Central American island in Panama, six years ago,” Rabbi Klein begins, “we looked for a large building in a central location that would meet our requirements. One day, we met an Israeli man named Danny Mizrachi. Although he lived in Key West, Florida, he owned a hostel on the island and came to Bocas del Toro several times a year to check on his property. When he came six years ago, he was very happy to meet us and to hear that Chabad activities were taking place on the island. In our conversation, he mentioned that he continued to observe Jewish tradition, eating only kosher food, and he showed us a Tehillim he read from every day. Also, he said that he has a son who became a Ba’al Teshuva with Chabad and now learned in the Ramat Aviv yeshiva. Needless to say, we became very close friends, and he began to visit the Chabad House regularly.

“At the start of our shlichus, we established our operations on the balcony of a local hotel. However, once the location became too small for all those participating in our evening meals, we asked Mr. Mizrachi if we could transfer the Chabad activities to his hostel, and he happily agreed. He told us that he was getting tired of running the place and wanted to sell the building.

“Although we didn’t have money to purchase the property, we did want to rent this large facility, situated in an ideal location. In an amazing case of Divine Providence, at the following Shabbos meal, one of the guests was a building planner from Panama City. When he heard about the proposed sale of the Mizrachi hostel, he jumped at the opportunity and bought the property. He then agreed to sign a long-term rental contract with us, donating the first three months’ rent…”

Thus, just one month after their arrival, the shluchim found themselves in a spacious two-story building in the center of the island. There were already eight people working in the facility full-time, a ready infrastructure, a large kitchen, and everything else new shluchim only dream about. Under normal circumstances, if they had to rely upon the Panamanian bureaucracy, it would have taken them several years to acquire all this…

And when the “tool” expands in scope, so do the activities. You can depend on the charisma and energy of Rabbi Klein and Rabbi Cohen…

Since then, the activities have grown stronger, and every Jewish or Israeli tourist coming to the island finds a new Chabad center on the world map, just as one friend brings another.

As the years passed, the desire to build a permanent Chabad House facility grew and intensified. The shluchim’s dream was to establish a facility of their own. They had already sketched out their building plans: a mikvah on the first floor, while on the additional floors – a kitchen, a spacious dining room, a synagogue, offices, and study rooms.

Four years ago, a wealthy Jew came to the Chabad House, saw the outreach work done there for himself, and was very moved and impressed. He began to support the Chabad House, mainly during the periods of unusually large expenses before the various holiday seasons. After another year of closer association, he donated a large piece of property in the island’s very center for the Chabad House facility the shluchim had long hoped to erect. Thus, the process of realizing their dream started to go into high gear.

This parcel of land was not completely vacant, as in its center stood a small old structure occupying about one hundred and eighty square meters. At first, the shluchim considered renovating the building, expanding it slightly according to the needs. However, this was deemed inadequate in light of the growing dreams… About a year and a half later, they got into the tremendous project of building a new facility without any previous knowledge or experience in such matters, and without any organized plans for the building itself or the raising of the necessary funds to finance the project.

Yet, today, the large four-story building stands tall. Just as they dreamt, there is a beautiful mikvah, built out on a deck connected to the sea. Also, the facility has a large dining room for Shabbos and Yom-Tov meals, dormitory space for the bachurim studying in the semicha institute, guest rooms, kindergartens, a kosher restaurant, and two apartments for the families of the shluchim themselves. In essence, the new building is the fulfillment of the answer the shluchim received from the Rebbe before starting the process of constructing their large and “more expansive” complex.

At the present time, the building construction is in its final stages, scheduled to finish in time for the upcoming Tishrei holiday season.

There was no lack of miracles in the building process, and Rabbi Yariv Klein tells us about a most thrilling miracle. As he noted at the beginning of his story, when they started their activities inside this old house, they learned that it had once been occupied by a man named ‘José Ezequiel Hall.’ Local residents said that this was a very spiritual man, and his name was known to all the islanders with great admiration and esteem. After the Panamanian authorities decided to name the local airport after Sr. Hall, the shluchim realized that he apparently was a truly important and respected individual, to the point of preserving his memory for generations to come.

“After we had commenced work on the building project, we encountered a serious and seemingly unsolvable problem. The plans called for the construction of a four-story building, eleven meters high. However, when we submitted the plans for a local permit, we discovered that it would not be possible to build anything at that location higher than seven meters, i.e., two floors. The reason: The plot of land was located too close to the airport, directly in the path of the runway for takeoffs and landings. As a result, we were subject to severe and simply impossible height restrictions. Nu, go and try now to change the flight path…

“This was the stage when we realized why this strip of land had been put up for sale at such a ridiculously low price in a central location on the island near the shore with the Caribbean. The fact was that there was no way to put this property to its maximum use. After making several inquiries, we learned that a number of influential people in Bocas del Toro had tried to change this zoning restriction, yet they too failed to make any headway.

“We turned to the shliach in Panama City, Rabbi Ari Laine, with whom we are in close contact, and told him about the problem that had placed the whole building project in serious jeopardy. He told us about a Jew with whom he had very close contact: Mr. Robert Katz, head of the Panamanian airport authority. He arranged for us to meet with Mr. Katz in a last attempt to see what could possibly be done.

“As soon as the meeting began, Mr. Katz opened a computerized map of the area in question to see what we were talking about. After a brief examination, he said in a clear tone that left no room for flexibility: ‘Do you know that you are located about two hundred and fifty meters from the José Hall Airport…?’

“The meaning was perfectly clear to us. To get to the heart of the matter, we told him quite honestly that not only were we aware of that, we were also living on the property where he had once lived, and the building we were discussing had once been the home of José Hall.

“He was very impressed to hear this, and he replied to us with much excitement, ‘This is most amazing. If José Hall would hear that his home was being transformed into a spiritual house where people serve and pray to the Creator, he would surely be quite thrilled.’ In response, we said to Mr. Katz, ‘But Mr. Hall is no longer alive…’ Mr. Katz laughed and told us that not only was José Hall alive and well, but he was also sitting in the next office over…

“It turned out that this man was none other than the first aircraft technician to come to the island, and thirty years earlier, he had served as administrator of the local airport. According to Mr. Robert Katz, ‘José is more Jewish than I am…’ During the next hour, we learned about the efforts to venerate the man about whom we had heard so much. This was a Gentile, who at a certain point in his life began to search after the truth. After trying a number of faiths and religions, he cleaved to the G-d of Israel, similar to Yisro, priest of Midian. In his home in Bocas del Toro (the same building now serving as the Chabad House), he hosted classes for local residents, during which he told them about the Creator and his faith in Him, emphasizing the need to fulfill the Seven Noahide Laws.

“While he was still talking about him, he called Sr. Hall’s office and asked him to come in. Thus, for the first time, we met the man who had become a legend in his lifetime… In fact, we discovered that he completely understood that his purpose in life was to work specifically among his fellow Gentiles, and therefore he didn’t convert to Judaism, despite his total belief in G-d and the truth of the Torah. He grew a beard, observes Shabbos, and he even circumcised his children… His daughter [a la Ivanka Trump] underwent a strictly Orthodox conversion, became a kosher Jew, and today is a member of the Chabad community in Miami, Florida.

“When we asked how the airport was named after him while he is still alive, we heard the following interesting story:

“During that period, José Ezequiel Hall was the only pilot in Bocas del Toro. Once he was asked to transport a boy injured in an automobile accident to Panama City, but he refused because it was Shabbos. However, after he heard that it was a matter of life and death, he immediately flew the boy to the capital, refusing to accept payment for his services. Since then, whenever there was an emergency requiring transportation to the state-of-the-art hospital in Panama City, he would arrange for a flight, free of charge. Thus, over more than thirty years, he saved the lives of hundreds of people. In recognition of his marvelous work in difficult times, the island’s civic leaders decided to name the local airport after him during his lifetime.

“José Hall was deeply moved when he heard that we were living in his house, building there a center dedicated to G-d and bringing Jews to faith in Him. He even began to cry… He said that when he was asked to move to Panama City to work there, he left his home in Bocas del Toro. He did so with great sadness and reluctance since his departure would leave no one to continue spreading the light of G-d and the values of Judaism on the islands. Now, not only would it not stop, it would continue with greater strength and fortitude – and in the very same house…

“Needless to say, at this point, our meeting took on a totally different direction. The question was no longer whether we would receive the permit, but how. However, before we started getting into the practical details on how to obtain the permit to waive the height restrictions, Robert Katz declared that he had never seen such an open display of Divine Providence and the Hand of G-d as he had seen in those last few moments. He then expressed his desire to recognize this with the fulfillment of some actual mitzvah. Naturally, we brought him a pair of tefillin, and he put them on with deep emotion.

“About two weeks after this incredible meeting, we received the official permit to build an eleven-meter high facility as planned – something no one ever would have dreamed possible…”

COMING FULL CIRCLE AFTER THIRTY YEARS

The building of the center was progressing nicely, when suddenly three months ago, he and his shlichus partner, Rabbi Cohen, came to a crossroads when all the money for the project had completely run out, even after they had exhausted all possibilities for loans and charitable contributions. “We literally stood empty-handed before the workers and building contractor on the construction site, due to receive their salary the following Monday,” Rabbi Klein recalled.

“On Sunday, we received a phone call from a friend in Miami. He had decided two years ago to donate a Torah scroll to the Bocas del Toro Chabad House, and he was informing us that he would be coming in a few days with the Torah scroll aboard a private plane. The celebration had been in the planning stages ever since we had learned about the donation, and now everything worked out for the donor, his rabbi, and the scribe who wrote the sefer Torah, Rabbi Yehuda Gabbai from Netanya, to come for the dedication ceremony…

“During the telephone conversation, the donor told us that his business partner was also planning to come to the ceremony. ‘He is a person who has no close relationship with rabbis and doesn’t feel any connection to such matters. Nevertheless, he’s coming to the event out of deference to me, and we’ll place the Torah in the Aron Kodesh together,’ he said. When we heard this information, we realized that we had to conduct ourselves towards the business partner with the proper respect and sensitivity.

“And so, on that Friday, they landed on the island with the new Torah scroll and an esteemed delegation of friends and family. That evening, we made Kiddush for about one hundred and twenty guests around the Shabbos table facing the Caribbean Sea. All of us began to sing ‘Shalom Aleichem’ in the traditional melody. Suddenly, I noticed that the donor’s business partner was standing on the side, crying like a baby.

“On Sunday, after the Torah scroll dedication ceremony had concluded, all the guests departed, except for the business partner, who asked if he could sit and speak with the shluchim privately.

“During our discussion, he mentioned that he had come to Bocas del Toro with much hesitation. He had no connection to such matters, and he generally refrained from getting closer to anything of a religious nature. ‘I have my own personal kinship with G-d,’ he stressed as he continued his story. Thirty years earlier, he had been in Nepal on a tour following his military service, and he participated in the first public Pesach seder made there on the Rebbe’s shlichus in 5749. When he asked if he could join the staff of those preparing for the seder, he was enlisted to help in immersing new utensils bought by the shluchim who had come there – a job that left a profound effect upon his Jewish soul. Today, as he saw happy young Israeli tourists on the other side of the globe in that little corner of Yiddishkeit called ‘the Chabad House’, being helped warmly by the local shluchim, it brought back memories of his carefree days as a tourist decades ago.

“He then added that when he heard the singing of ‘Shalom Aleichem’ before Friday night Kiddush, he was overcome with emotion. He remembered the melody from Nepal, faraway both physically and chronologically, and the memories overwhelmed him. ‘I had never felt such a strong connection to Judaism or pride in belonging to the Jewish People as I did at that moment, and the feeling caused me to burst into tears.’

“After this heartfelt conversation, he got down to business. He wanted to help the Chabad House and asked what he could do to assist us. We told him directly about our problem with the building project, and the fact that we had no money to pay the contractors and other construction workers.

“His pintele yid ignited, now revealed itself to its fullest extent, and he promised that he and his wife would financially back the Chabad House renovation until its completion!

“It was simply amazing,” said Rabbi Klein with undisguised enthusiasm, despite the fact that he already encountered more than his fair share of incredible Divine Providence stories. “A Jew who had been privileged to be at a Pesach seder in Nepal decades earlier and had remained distant from all things Jewish ever since – experiences a spiritual arousal a hemisphere away, in Central America, and decides to pay for the construction of a new Chabad House.” ■