Despite Predictions Yiddish Press Refuses to Die, Still Going Strong, Shazar Says

President Zalman Shazar declared last night that “in spite of many predictions of its death, the Yiddish press refuses to die.” Mr. Shazar addressed a gathering of writers and journalists at his home marking the 100th anniversary of the Yiddish press in America. He recalled that 35 years ago Baruch Vladeck, the then editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, New York’s largest Yiddish daily, predicted that within 12 years there would be no more Yiddish press in the United States. He said he made Vladeck put his prediction in writing and it was witnessed by another Yiddish writer, Abraham Lessin. “Since then, many times a dozen years have passed and the Yiddish press is still going strong,” President Shazar observed. The anniversary was marked by the World Association of Jewish Journalists with a special issue of its periodical. “The Jewish Journalist” containing messages for good will from President Richard M. Nixon and Premier Golda Meir.