Herzl and Balfour Hakak were born in Baghdad, Iraq, when Israel was founded, and they have not been separated, ever: They live in the same city, win prizes together, and when one aches, the other hurts, too.
Their father, an ardent Zionist, named his sons Herzl and Balfour, after the early Zionists who never met, but wished to meet.
Herzl and Balfour immigrated to Israel, and for many years accumulated achievements: Balfour was the winner of the Bible Contest, and Herzl was his runner-up, and the twins even won the Prize for Jewish Culture together. Both twins live in Jerusalem, and they are very close.
A few days ago, Balfour felt his health had taken a downturn, and discovered that he suffered from atrial fibrillation. He arrived at Shaare Zedek Medical Center to receive appropriate treatment in the cardiac ICU. His brother Herzl helped him during the process, and a few days after Balfour was hospitalized, Herzl began to feel unwell, and arrived at the hospital's emergency room. Herzl was found to have a blockage in one of his arteries, and a day later, underwent catheterization at Shaare Zedek, in the same ward his brother was in.
Now, both twins are in the same ward, and recovering together. To avoid mixups, the nurses hung signs above their beds, noting that each is an identical twin, and that another patient with a similar name is hospitalized in the same ward.
"We call it twin symbiosis," the twins said. "This is not the first time we are experiencing something like this. Apparently the stress that one of us is sick affects the other. Many times, we experience similar things without realizing it."
Dr. Louay Taha, a senior doctor in the cardiac ICU at Shaare Zedek, treated the twins. He described: "We admitted twins to the cardiac ICU. One of them had a heart disturbance and insufficiency, and the other arrived two days later, after a heart attack. There are reports in literature that twins are similar in cardiovascular issues. Their condition is excellent and they will be released soon."