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A number of days after Staff Sergeant Refanael Muskal, of blessed memory, fell during combat, a scrap of paper was found in his personal belongings with notes he jotted down just hours before his untimely death.   "I am here now, just two weeks before I complete my training course," wrote Muskal, a combat soldier in the elite Egoz Unit of the Golani Brigade.  "All that I can think about is how the operations will turn out, what we will do, how much we will do, and how far into enemy territory will we enter."  Besides for this crumpled scrap of paper, Refanael leaves behind a set of parents, three siblings and many close friends.   Despite the passing of a year since his death, the pain is still raw, as described by his mother, Riva Muskal.  There are no large pictures hanging in the Muskal house, showcasing his big blue eyes or wide smile or the yarmulka that sat atop his head.   The youngest son of the Muskal family has recently enlisted in to the army joining a combat unit, and has been changing out of his civilian clothes into the army greens while continuing down the combat path in recent months.  
 
A ceremony was held in each town
 
The Hebrew calendar date marking the first year since the Second Lebanon War fell out on July 2nd, 2007.   Riva and her husband Moshe, along with a group of other parents who lost their children in this war, toured the towns located in the North of the country on that same day.  These particular towns suffered heavy losses including the death of a number of people during the war, from Hezbollah rocket fire which rained down on their communities.  A small ceremony was held in each town that was visited and a small speech was said to the loved ones participating.   The parents concluded their tour at the military cemetery located on Mt. Herzl where a national memorial service was held honoring the 119 soldiers and 44 civilians who were killed during the fighting.  
While being interviewed by IDF reporters, Riva Muskal spoke, choosing not to hold back her emotions. Tears welled up in her eyes repeatedly throughout our conversation.   When asked about the first days following the notification of her sons death she responded, "My husband said to me during the Shiva (a seven day mourning period for the family of those who have died), how grateful he was such a concept exists in Judaism.   I don't remember anything from that week.  I met the Bohris family (the family of Master Sergeant Shlomo Bohris, of blessed memory, who fell during the war in Kfar Giladi) a couple weeks ago as part of routine visitations we do amongst the families of the fallen, and as we were walking together to our cars, the parents asked me:   'Tell me, do you really comprehend that your son is dead?'  I responded, 'In all honesty, this sounds terrible, but I sometimes tell myself perhaps this isn't real, maybe he will come home, perhaps he didn't die at all.'"
 
"This year really has passed by quickly," continued Riva.  "On one hand I am surprised that it has already been a whole year.   On the other, I have pretty much been in a daze since he died.  This year required large amounts of strength in order to just get through it, and having the strength to appear on television.   But I always say this is just the beginning, I have so many more years to live with this pain.  When asked how many children we have my husband easily responds 'we have four; three are with us - and one isn't.'   A month ago, I replied that I have three.  It recently dawned on me that I do have four children. All our lives are ahead of us and he will live out the rest of his, through us."
 
Sabbath Meals Would Last for Hours
 
After the end, time always remains
After the blow, a sign always remains
And despite the upheaval and unrest, here we remain, here we remain
 
Everything returns to green, even the blossoms which wilt
Seeking only tranquility, which remains our request
 
The stems that are still small will take root,
The stork that roams will return with fledglings
And the boy who ran away just means well,
For all to stop, listen and understand
 
Everything returns to green, even the blossoms which wilt
Seeking only tranquility, which remains our request

 
("After the Storm":  words by Refanael Muskal) 
 
The songs of "After the Storm" were set to music by composer Adam Perry along with Israeli singer, Shiri Maimon.   The songs were performed during the IDF radio memorial day program "In a little while we will sing", broadcasted by Army Radio on Memorial Day.
 
Refanael, of blessed memory, wrote and composed many songs during his service.  His friends told of his love for creating a pleasant atmosphere while in the field through his greatest joy - his guitar.   Nine months after his death, his friends arranged a memorial night they called "The Songs That Refanael Loved and the Songs that Refanael Wrote." 
 
"He was a popular boy," explains his mother.   "Even I wasn't aware of how many friends he really had.   He amassed friends wherever he went.  He was always on the phone.  He loved to crack jokes or tell funny stories at the dinner table.   Our Shabbat meals would go on for hours when he was home."
 
"He couldn't sit still for a moment," Riva told.  "He was lively and energetic, even as a baby.   As he got older he channeled his physical energy into sports. When the two brothers would fight - the age gap between them is less than two years - I was afraid of what the siblings might do to one another. They were both so strong, it scared me when I saw them rolling around on the grass, like two puppies.   I used to yell at them not to kill each other."
 
Influences from Home
 
Staff Sergeant Muskal concluded his training a short time before the outbreak of the war.  His mother described him as a motivated soldier, who couldn't wait to experience real military combat in the field.   "We used to watch American action films and my husband would say to me, 'This is what our son is actually doing. He is really in the field battling terrorists.   We saw the movie 'Black Hawk Down' a number of times.  The movie is shown to the soldiers in the army and each time I watched it I was shaken up anew.   I knew that what was shown in 0the movie was very much like what my son had gone through.  When Refanael would return from his base I used to tell him, 'I realize that the army must train you to be a combat soldier, but it would really be an honor you to complete your service without harming anyone.   Perhaps we will be fortunate enough to finish it with no need to put the training to use."
 
The parents visited Point 105 during their tour and were met by the parents of Ehud Goldwasser who was kidnapped by Hezbollah operatives and is still being held captive.   Ehud's mother, Miki, spoke at that particular place, saying that this was the first time she had ever visited the location of the kidnapping.  "I saw the place but I could not grasp that this had actually happened in our country, not in Lebanon.  We traveled alongside the community of Zir'it and saw the children returning from school, their young mothers at their sides.   After that we visited the Haifa railroad repair depot (where eight people were killed during a Hezbollah Katyusha rocket attack on the station during the war).   We didn't want to separate between the military and civilian casualties of war.   As they say; 'we are all the army'. This war reached our homes.   It struck a train depot - In the middle of Haifa.  It's unimaginable, to visit civilian areas that a year ago served as the military battlefront."
 
What do you feel when you hear how your son died?
 
"It is very difficult for me.  I prefer not to hear the details on how he died.   I know for others it is extremely important to see and hear all the details.  For me personally it is very painful. To imagine being in the exact spot my son was, where he took his last breath, and then just like that, it's over, and I have no son anymore.   Yossi Bachar (who is the commander of the Galilee formation of the Northern Command) invited all the families to participate in a more comprehensive tour.   I said that I wasn't sure that I wanted to do it again.  He told me that it wasn't just for me it was for all the parents.  Perhaps I would rather not expose myself to it, or maybe I just don't want to know.   What is important to me is to know how it ended.  That he died quickly and didn't suffer.  When the army asked us to come and see his body before his burial I refused.   I prefer to remember him alive."
 
The death of Refanael has not deterred his younger brother from choosing the path of a combat soldier in the IDF.   "It didn't change any of his plans," said Riva.  "He is following the decision he made for himself and we are supporting him all the way.  I told him, 'I will try hard not to bother you about it.'  He told me that wasn't a good enough answer.  I told him he was right and that when he needed my help I would be there.   When the time came to officially sign the papers we knew he would choose to serve as a combat soldier."