Ariel grew up in a Reform Jewish home. He was searching for meaning in life in Zen Buddhism after college, when he was born again at a church in downtown Tokyo. He made Aliyah in 1998 and co-leads Ahavat Yeshua Congregation in Jerusalem.

He is the author of ‘One New Man—Reconciling Jew & Gentile in One Body of Christ’, and teaches the Bible in English, Hebrew, Japanese and Chinese.

Ariel and his wife Vered have 4 children, and live in downtown Jerusalem.