Tonight, Israel celebrates its 61st Independence Day. As usual, the country's commentators are offering mixed reviews, filled with angst and back-patting, celebration and worry. But, today I had the privilege of an unexpected 'Yom Hatzmaut' commemoration of my own, as an Israeli friend of mine was honored by Survivor Corps, an NGO that works with people who have been hit by land mines, torture, war and genocide.

My heroic friend, Nomika Tzion, lives in an urban kibbutz that she helped create, in the rocket-ravaged poor city of Sderot, just three miles or so from the Gaza border.

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