"We sleep in the same bedroom and eat almost every meal together," Miriam says. And while they pursued different academic paths, both have been successful students, making the dean's list all semesters and graduating with honors. Miriam has been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and won a Hoopes Prize for her thesis.

While they currently share their Adams House quarters, graduation will put several time zones between them. Miriam will be studying Jewish and Arab literature at Cambridge University next year as a Marshall scholar, while Beth will begin medical school at Hebrew University.

The sisters' commitments to their religion and to the Jewish community are something that both have strengthened over the years. They grew up in Tampa, where their father worked as a doctor and their mother as a homemaker, but after they came to college their family moved to Israel, where Miriam and Beth now spend their vacations from school.

"We were the ones who stopped them [from going] 20 years ago and we're the ones who brought them [there] 20 years later," Miriam says.

Their parents, who were strong Zionists, had been contemplating a move to Israel before Miriam and Beth were born, but put off plans once they learned they were having twins. Their family later decided to move after visiting the twins who were participating in summer programs in Israel.

And while their careers will now diverge even more, Beth and Miriam share a commitment to improving social conditions in Israel.

Miriam hopes to explore the connections between Jewish and Arab culture at Cambridge and plans to pursue an academic career in this field.

"Whatever I do, I want to teach," she says.

Through these studies, she believes she can promote better understanding between Jews and Arabs in Israel.

"We share a culture. There's just a different religion," Miriam says. She became interested in the subject after spending a summer during high school learning Arabic in a Jewish-Arabic village in Israel.

"There's cultural coexistence in Israel now, you just don't hear about it in the evening news," she says.

Beth hopes to use medicine to impact social conditions in Israel. She plans to become a gynecologist and work with ultra-conservative Jews and Arab patients.

"By interacting with these women, I can bridge the gap between dominant group and the minorities [ultra-orthodox Jew and Arabs]," she says.

She also wants to learn Arabic. "I'll be able to have a deeper relation to my patients if I can speak their language," Beth says.

"There's a real need for female gynecologists in Israel, there are very few right now," she adds. "Women can relate to each other on a basic level."

Beth and Miriam say they are not sure how their paths will intersect in the future. Beth says she definitely wants to live in Israel, Miriam is not as sure. But both agree that their shared experiences at Harvard have helped strengthen their relationship.

"Everyone always says one of the best things they do at college is making a large group of friends," Miriam says. "But one of the most valuable things I'll have done is to make a closer relationship with the closest friend I'll ever have."

She turns to Beth and laughs. "That's you."

"Well, thanks," Beth smiles. "I agree."