Harel, Dalia

DATELINE: Barrington

Dalia Harel, 67, passed away on Saturday, July 20th, 2024, at Rhode Island Hospital. Dalia was the beloved wife of Zeev Harel for 44 years. She was the devoted mother of Ephat Russcol and her husband, David, of Newton, MA; Asaff Harel and his wife, Avital Mendelson, of New York, NY; and Maayan Harel and her fiancé, Bradley Silverman, of Brookline, MA. She was also the doting grandmother of Liora, Aviva, Rina, Ethan, Ilana, Benjamin, and Eli.

Born in Romania in 1956, Dalia was the daughter of Miriam and Mayer Almagor, Holocaust survivors who instilled in her a sense of kindness, the value of hard work, and a love of learning. Her parents struggled for many years to be allowed to leave Romania, as the Communist regime prevented Jews from leaving.  She made Aliya with her parents at the age of 6 and lived for many years in Haifa where she studied computer science at the Technion and earned a Master of Science degree. She was an avid reader, a film connoisseur, and a talented artist.

In her early twenties, she met Zeev, and the two married in Israel in 1979. She welcomed her oldest daughter, Ephat, in 1982, followed by her son, Asaff, fifteen months later.  In 1990, now the matriarch of a family of four, she moved to Montreal, Canada, where her youngest child, Maayan, was born. After spending a few years in Cincinnati, OH, the family settled in Barrington, RI in 1995. Dalia loved nothing better than helping proofread and edit (and occasionally write) her children’s papers, and was always an active participant in her children’s and grandchildren’s educations. After her children were older, she returned to the world of science as a research associate at Rhode Island Hospital, retiring in 2013.

In recent years, although dealing with her own increasingly serious health concerns, she always put her family’s needs ahead of her own, even continuing to help plan her daughter Maayan’s upcoming wedding while in the hospital. Beyond strong family relationships, Dalia cultivated a close group of friends from all eras of her life. She continued to check in with them, despite some of them living thousands of miles away, even during her last months.

Dalia was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, and she is dearly missed.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. in Temple Emanu-El, 99 Taft Avenue, Providence. Shiva will be observed at 6 Boxwood Ct., Barrington, Tuesday through Thursday from 5-8 p.m. with minyan at 7:00 p.m., Saturday from 9:15 p.m. – 11:00 p.m., with minyan at 9:30 p.m.; Sunday 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. with minyan at 7:00 p.m.; and Monday minyan at 8:30 a.m. Guests are also invited to Temple Ohabei Shalom, 1187 Beacon St., Brookline, MA on Sunday from 11:00 – 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to Temple Emanu-El, the National Kidney Foundation, or the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

 

To view the pre-recorded service, please click here

 

To view the pre-recorded burial, please click here.