May 24, 1991

Disenchanted with the prospect of careers in law, medicine and business -- and searching for something more satisfying and often as remunerative -- young American Jews are applying to rabbinical schools in record numbers. The Reform and Conservative rabbinical seminaries are accepting larger classes for next fall than they have in almost a decade amid signs that the rabbinate has achieved heightened professional status.

Memorial Day will be observed on Monday. Here are holiday schedules. NEW YORK Memborial Day Parade: Broadway between 72d and 86th Streets will be closed from 10 A.M. to noon. Government Offices: Federal, state and municipal closed. Post Office: Express mail and special delivery only. Main POst Office at 33d Street and Eighth Avenue open. Banks: Closed Parking: Sunday rules. Sanitation: No street sweeping or garbage collection. Schools: Closed Financial Markets: Closed Transportation: Subways and buses, L.I.R.R. and Metro-North on holiday schedules. NEW JERSEY Government Offices: Federal, state and municipal closed. Post Office: Express mail and special delivery only. Banks: Closed Schools: Local option. Transportation: N.J. Transit, Sunday schedule. CONNECTICUT Government Offices: Federal, state and municipal closed. Post Office: Express mail and special delivery only. Banks: Closed Schools: Closed Transportaion: Metro-North New Haven line on holiday schedule. Weekend Traffic Alert: TOMORROW Turkish Parade: Madison Avenue will be closed from 47th to 55th Street and 47th Street will be closed from Madison to First Avenue from 2 P.M. to 5 P.M. Broadway Street Fair: The east side of Broadway will be closed from 75th to 86th rom 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. SUNDAY: Loisaida Street Fair: Avenue C from 3d to 10th Street will be closed from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. MONDAY: Second Avenue Street Fair: Second Avenue will be closed from 42d to 53d Street from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M.

The Economy The House authorized the Bush Administration to negotiate a free-trade agreement with Mexico and a 107-nation pact to reduce trade barriers. The vote was 231 to 192 amid last-minute lobbying by labor unions, businesses, environmentalists and the Administration. The Senate took up the issue immediately. [ Page A1. ]

Americans pay some of the world's highest prices for their prescription drugs. While other governments usually negotiate prices, the United States has traditionally let companies decide for themselves what to charge. According to one study, Americans paid an average of 54 percent more than Europeans for 25 commonly prescribed drugs. Some essential drugs are especially costly in the United States. A month's supply of Eldepryl, a Parkinson's disease medication from Somerset Labs Inc., costs about $28 in Italy, $48 in Austria and $240 in the United States.

Thousands of Ethiopians poured into the streets of Addis Ababa today to sing and to dance as Government construction crews pulled down a giant statue of Lenin and carried it away with two cranes. Two days after President Mengistu Haile Mariam resigned and fled the country for Zimbabwe, the realization that the Communist Government was falling seemed to fill the city with joy even as guerrillas advanced to within 12 miles of the city from the east and the west. Coptic Christian churches and Muslim mosques were filled with worshipers who prayed for peace and rejoiced at what they hoped would be the return of total freedom of religion.