I really liked Dina, who was a friend of my mother, the late Shani Ariel, but one of my earliest memories, in general, is Mali.
We came to their house as a fairly new family in the campus, and Eli asked me how old I was, I replied that I was in pre-compulsory kindergarten, "Really?" He asked in amazement, "I thought at least in second grade!"
I do not know if I remember it clearly because of the tall children's pride that awoke in me, but I do remember the tone in which he asked. The smile, the tenderness in his voice, Shalva Baruch, the American accent, my surprise at his full interest in children and at eye level.
I think until Eli was murdered I did not know he was such a serious rabbi, because he did not really get into my head for a tapecast.
I thought of Dina, as a child, as one of the most beautiful women. Her huge and genuine shed smile, a smile of an open heart, must have contributed to this beauty.
Dina and my mother were both teachers in the studio, both "blood" teachers. And there were other things that connected them, the music, and maybe also the fact that they both did not come from religious homes and they were also not the type of repentance that turns their backs on the past, but rather took a lot of color and beauty and richness of thought to the religious world they chose.
The piano and music, for example: my brother Neri started studying piano with another teacher in the Kirya who did not know how to teach Israeli children, and after a while his parents transferred him to study with Dina, who suddenly taught him jazz and brought a Beatles booklet and was the greatest fun teacher in the world.
My brother Neri continued to play all these years and towards the end of high school, when he was already studying with another teacher, he did an intimate concert at home for 10 close people and of course it was most important to him that Dina come - and she really came to Porcelain Hill with me, and I remember her excited expression, The overt admiration of the level he had reached.
I remember Dina running up the stairs to the studio, smiling at me and asking how I was doing in a way that makes me feel most important, even though she did not teach me at all.
Dina was a real sunbeam and a woman I find hard to forget.
Chen Ariel