The family of Rafael Kauders, who was killed by the UAV attack in Hurfeish this week, bid him farewell with a salute after the funeral procession. Yehudit, Rafael's widow, and his children Hedva, Miriam, and Hillel, stood together over the fresh grave and saluted their father on his final journey - each wearing a beret. Yehudit eulogized him: "Rafael, how much you loved the Torah. My beloved Rafael, you were so wise, intelligent, and sensitive. You managed to explain everything to everyone in simple words, with courtesy and patience. You didn't even realize that this was such a rare quality. Rafael, I always knew I could lean on you, that you would take care of me, and I know how much you cared for me and that it was important to you that I be well. I found in you a safe haven." "Thank you for encouraging me to go study, to develop, and for staying with the kids," Yehudit continued speaking about her husband. "You invested in them, taught them about the land, the culture, the world, and life. Rafael, I won't know how to answer the children's questions like you did about everything. But I will try to be more patient and look for answers together with them that suit us. I will try to raise them in a way that you would be happy with. I know you are blessing my path with success." "My love," she added in tears, "thank you for the last hug on Sunday and for the hug I always feel in me. Thank you for the space you gave me and for being there for me. Thank you for waiting to get my blessing to enlist - even though you knew how hard it would be for me to be without you. Go in peace, I love you, I will miss you every day and every hour. We will hurt a lot and yet we will be all right". During the funeral procession, Yehudit taught her young son Hillel to say Kaddish, the traditional prayer of mourners, for the first time, in memory of his father.
