I NOTEBOOK
In Season Sale
NEW FALL
JACKETS
COATS
KNITS
SEPARATES
SAVE 50%
Save Now Wear Now
Sale Starts Monday, October 24th
Monday-Friday 10 am-6 pm
Saturdays store will be open only for
"Russian Artists in America Exhibit"
Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Ceramics,
Sculptures & Jewelry
IRINA
European Designer Fashions
700 N. Woodward Avenue, Near Claymore Shop
Birmingham
642-2990
JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE
24123 GREENFIELD ROAD
SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN
20th Annual Volunteer Institute
November 7, 1988
Back By Popular Demand
ROBERT BERNSTEIN, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Geriatric Screening
will discuss
"Retirement — A Time To Rediscover"
The impact of retirement on couples and individuals
Continental Breakfast 9:30 A.M.
Program 10:00-12 NOON
Please Invite a Friend to join us
for this
interesting program
54
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1988
R.S.V.P. 559-4046
to Mary Schneider
or Ellie Glen,
Volunteer Office
Controversial Preiheit'
Closes After 66 Years
New York (JTA) - The mor-
ning Freiheit, one of the last
surviving Yiddish newspa-
pers in America, and easily
the most controversial, an-
nounced recently that it is
ceasing publication.
Its first edition appeared on
the newsstands on April 2,
1922, and for the next 34
years it faithfully purveyed
the Communist Party line
from Moscow to Yiddish
readers in the United States.
Its moment of truth arrived
in 1956, when Nikita
Khruschev delivered his
scathing expose of Stalin at
the 20th Communist Party
Conference in Moscow.
After that, the Freiheit felt
free to question and criticize
Soviet policies and even at-
tacked anti-Semitism in the
Soviet Union, a subject it
previously ignored.
Still, Freiheit veterans of-
fered differing recollections of
the newspaper's editorial
policies. Irving Freed, the
managing editor, insisted it
was an "independent pro-
gressive" Jewish newspaper
from inception.
He denied it was ever sub-
sidized by the Soviets or the
American Communist Party.
But it slavishly supported
Soviet policies, including the
Hitler-Stalin pact of 1939.
Paul Novick, the editor in
chief, who was manning the
city desk when the first edi-
tion of the Freiheit appeared
more than 66 years ago, ad-
mits "we were duped."
While he maintains, like
Freed, that the paper was
never a Communist Party
organ, he acknowledged that
it never deviated from the
party line before 1956.
He said that when it asked
questions about the vic-
timization of Jews at the time
of the alleged "doctors' plot"
after World War II, the paper
was attacked by Moscow and
by the Communist Party
U.S.A.
According to Freed, the
Freiheit has strongly sup-
ported Israel though it was
critical of many Israeli
government policies.
Novick stressed that the
newspaper covers the situa-
tion of Soviet Jews. He said he
himself has written
numerous articles in recent
years denouncing manifesta-
tions of anti-Semitism in the
Soviet Union.
Freed stressed another
aspect of the newspaper. He
recalled that it sponsored
many Jewish fraternal
organizations, clubs and Yid-
dish schools for children "all
over the United States."
Those were very active in
the 1930s, but they no longer
exist.
The Freiheit remained a
daily until seven years ago,
when it began to publish
three times a week. Later, it
published just weekly.
It was always supported by
its readers, the two editors
said. But Yiddish readership
has declined almost to the
vanishing point. The paper
cannot sustain the burden of
high costs and a weekly press
run of 6,000.
NEWS
Vaccine Urged
For Travelers
Philadelphia (JTA) — Peo-
ple should take a dose of the
polio vaccine before they go to
Israel, says the Centers for
Disease Control in Atlanta.
A CDC advisory recommen-
ding the vaccine will soon be
sent to health departments,
private physicians and travel
agents, Jim Mize, a public
health adviser at the CDC,
said last week.
"We strongly advise a
traveler getting the vaccine
at this time," said Jim Mize.
"As of this morning, Israel
has 16 cases diagnosed."
"Most people in the United
States received polio shots or
oral vaccine on sugar cubes as
children, but now if they're
going to be in one of the coun-
tries with polio, which in-
cludes Israel, they should
receive a single polio booster,"
Mize said.
The Salk vaccine, contain-
ing dead virus, is ad-
ministered by injection. The
Sabin vaccine, which consists
of live but weakened virus, is
taken orally.
This report was prepared by L.
E. Scott of the Jewish
Exponent.
Israel, Poland
Upgrade Ties
New York (JTA) — Israel
and Poland have agreed to
upgrade their diplomatic mis-
sions in Tel Aviv and Warsaw
and to turn them into in-
dependent missions. The two
missions are operating under
the diplomatic sponsorship of
the Netherlands.
The agreement was reached
in a meeting between Israeli
Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres and his Polish counter-
part, Tadeusz Olechowski.