Triplets Join Israel Air Force

Note: Sam Orbaum and I were colleagues and friends at The Jerusalem Post newspaper. Before my own triplet children were born 16-years ago, my then wife and I visited with Sam and his wife, Wendy (Elliman) to see what raising triplets was like. We learned a lot from their experience and commonsense child rearing.

You did good, Sam, and I, and so many others, miss you. May your soul rest in peace, and derive nachat from this:

Odelia, Nomi, and Donna Orbaum

Excerpt from The Jerusalem Post:

"'The concept of 'one for all and all for one' can get pretty absurd,'wrote the late columnist Sam Orbaum about his identical triplet daughters 14 years ago.

Orbaum, who passed away in 2002 at the age of 46, wrote about life as a father of identical triplets.

Not only did he sometimes mix them up, Orbaum wrote in his well-known wry, comic style, but he was also constantly impressed by their tight bond - when for example they stood up for one another in fights in the school sandbox.

The three blond 19-year-old sisters are still sticking up for one another, although this time not on the playground but in the IDF Air Corps, in which they all enlisted a few months ago, making history.

Odelia, the oldest (born a minute before her two sisters), serves as a control officer ; Nomi is an air traffic controller; and Donna is currently in training for a different position. All three plan on attending the IDF's pestigious Office Candidate Course and extending their service for at least an additional year.

Nomi Orbaum says, "[Serving In the IDF ] is what characterizes the state."

"He supported us in everything we did until he passed away when we were 12," Donna said on how their father would feel about their serving in the IDF . "This is the seventh year since he passed away and I think about him all the time and see his smile and know that he would have been proud of us."

More about Sam here