Three of the world’s first surviving set of sextuplets are bound for Israel to work and study on a kibbutz ulpan.
The six Rosenkowitzes, whose birth on Jan. 11, 1974 was an international media event and whose lives have remained an object of worldwide curiosity, all graduated last month from the Herzliya Jewish Day School in Cape Town.
Emma and Elizabeth, both talented artists, and the third sister, Nicky, are to leave shortly for Israel on a program arranged with the help of the South African Zionist Federation.
The three girls, along with their brothers Jason, David and Grant, have all been instilled with Zionist ideals and have been provided with an intense Jewish education, said their father, Colin Rosenkowitz.
The father promised at the time of their birth that he would make Zionists out of all of them.
Colin Rosenkowitz also said that the sextuplets’ successful graduation from high school was “the biggest triumph of their lives. It would have been traumatic if one or more of them hadn’t made it.”
While the sisters go off to Israel, the three boys will remain in Cape Town to continue their education.
The family has decided to take the money it has made selling the media stories about their graduation and donate the proceeds to their high school.
The Rosenkowitzes, members of the Constantia Hebrew Congregation, are active in the Jewish community.
The sextuplets attended a Jewish kindergarten and Herzliya Junior School before going to Herzliya High School.
In spite of worldwide media attention on all aspects of their private lives, including the boys’ brit milahs and bar mitzvahs, the sextuplets have remained unspoiled and popular with their peers.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
