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Mayer Rosner sits on a folding chair at the head of a long table in a loose-fitting black jacket and wide-brimmed black hat, breaking off a piece of bread from an enormous loaf still warm from the oven. His wife and five of his nine children, all swathed tightly around their head in long, black cloth, sit before him.

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As his wife, Malka, gets up to clear away the avocado and tomatoes and check on the duck eggs cooking on the stove, their five daughters, the eldest 17 and the youngest four, listen to their father or play with Play-Doh, rolling out colourful logs like their mother had just done to make bread.

The girls giggle as their picture is taken and want to see each shot on the camera’s small screen, saying which ones they like best.

Asked where his four sons are, Mr. Rosner, 37, looks surprised: “In school,” he says, making a gesture with his expressive eyes and slender hands to suggest the answer should be obvious.