Plea for Ida Nudel

The Soviet Embassy, in a rare instance of receptivity for someone protesting the treatment of Soviet Jews, invited Elana Fridman, sister of Ida Nudel, and Norman Goldstein, chairman of the Washington Jewish Community Council Soviet Jewry Committee, to come inside. Yevgeny Ponomarev, the Embassy consul and second secretary, talked to them for 45 minutes last week during which time Fridman requested medical aid for Nudel and freedom for her to emigrate to Israel. Both Fridman and Goldstein had been participating in a special vigil for Nudel opposite the Embassy.

Ponomarev refused to accept photos of Nudel or Rosh Hashanah greeting cards to her signed by some 75 persons who attended the vigil. While acknowledging the Nudel case, he said the Soviet government would not accept appeals regarding Nudel from outside the USSR.

As Fridman and Goldstein left the Embassy, she suggested that Ponomarey visit Israel as her guest. “There is no problem in your coming to Israel,” she said. “We will sent you a visov (invitation).” The Soviet official smiled but he did not respond. Fridman, who lives in Israel, came to the vigil from Canada where she had met with government officials and the media to discuss her sister’s plight.

She displayed contrasting pictures of Nudel to the vigil participants which showed her as a robust, spirited woman two years ago at the age of 47 before she was exiled to Siberia and as a worn, haggard woman several months ago. Nudel, Fridman said, is suffering from a kidney condition and is having difficulty obtaining proper medical aid. (By Joseph Polakoff)