Hadassah Asks Brezhnev to Allow Nudel to Attend Its Parley in N.Y.

Ida Nudel, Soviet Jewish Prisoner of Conscience, who has been exiled to Siberia for aiding the families of imprisoned Jewish dissidents, whose rights she has defended, has been invited by Hadassah to attend the opening session of its 67th national convention, Sunday, Aug. 9 in New York, to accept personally the organization’s highest honor, the Henrietta Szold Award, it was announced today.

The national convention will be held at the New York Hilton Hotel, August 9-12. More than 3,000 delegates and guests representing over 370,000 members in 1,600 chapters and groups from every State and Puerto Rico are scheduled to attend the four-day convention, which will be preceded by the National Board meeting opening Aug. 5.

“We have written to President (Leonid) Brezhnev asking that he allow Miss Nudel, who is in poor health, to come to New York and then to proceed to Israel, to join her sister, Elena Fridman, who is her sole surviving relative,” Rose Matzkin, Henrietta Szold Award chairman, said. Mrs. Matzkin explained the Soviet Union recognizes Israel as the Jewish homeland, and Jews are considered a nationality. Furthermore, the Soviet Union reaffirmed in the Helsinki Accords that people have the right to be united with their families.

“Therefore, we are asking President Brezhnev something that is consonant with Soviet law. We also ask him to exercise compassion in releasing Ida Nudel, who is in poor physical condition, from her exile, before her sentence ends in March 1982,” Mrs. Matzkin said.

Elena Fridman, Ida Nudel’s sister, has been invited by Hadassah to come from Israel to be with Miss Nudel, and to accept the Henrietta Szold Award on behalf of her sister if Miss Nudel is not allowed to come.