Hallel Yaffa Ariel was still asleep in her home in Kiryat Arba on the morning of June 30, 2016, following a Wednesday evening performance in Jerusalem with her HaRikud dance troupe, when a terrorist from a neighboring village broke into the isolated home in Kiryat Arba and stabbed her to death. Besides her love of dancing, Hallel was also a brilliant student – she wanted to be a doctor -- and fun and full of life, “the kind of child everyone wants to be around,” as per her grandmother Penina Aranoff. It is a testament that hundreds of people attended the 13.5-year-old’s funeral. As the oldest child of U.S.-born Rena Aranoff Ariel, Hallel was also an American citizen.
