Conn. resident Elan Ganeles slain in West Bank remembered as a ‘bright, shiny, brilliant star’

Elan Ganeles lived for family, friends and the knowledge he sought in every way he could, according to his younger brothers, Simon and Gabe.

The brothers, along with their rabbi, Tuvia Brander of Young Israel in West Hartford, met the media Thursday afternoon at the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford to talk about Elan, who was shot to death Monday while driving to a wedding near Jericho in the West Bank.

On Wednesday, the day of Ganeles’ funeral, three Palestinian

men were arrested in a refugee camp near Jericho. One was shot and later died of his injuries.

“Elan loved his friends,” Simon Ganeles said. “He is described by his friends as the perfect friend. … Elan was in Israel to go to a friend’s wedding, but while he was there he went to individually see 25 different friends he had made from various points of his life.”

As for learning, whether it was majoring in both neuroscience and sustainable development at Columbia University, going to every museum he could find — many of which others had never heard of — or just reading articles in Wikipedia, Elan Ganeles could never satisfy his love of knowledge, his brothers said.

Andrew Ganeles told of his son’s love of cooking and a soup-making group he formed. He concluded:

“He was such a gift in our life with so many great attributes — a whole life of so much potential. He wanted so much to see the world — to soak up every aspect of all the beauty, history, and culture. Our loss is a loss for the world of such an emerging, bright, shiny, brilliant star. “