What was going on when I was born?

Projections based on partial returns from Israel's general election yesterday showed the two major parties in a close, inconclusive race that appeared to provide Prime Minister Menachem Begin with a chance to form a government based on a slim majority in Parliament. With nearly half of the vote counted, and on the basis of sample precincts, Israeli television predicted that Mr. Begin's Likud bloc and the opposition Labor Party of Shimon Peres would each win 48 or 49 seats in the 120-member Parliament, with a slight edge for Labor. Of the votes counted 10 hours after the polls closed, Labor had won 38.3 percent and the Likud 35.8. But the smaller parties on the left, whose support Labor would need to form a majority coalition, were doing very poorly and were expected to win no more than two or three seats among them. The religious and right-wing parties, potential allies of the Likud, were making a stronger showing, with up to 15 seats predicted for them altogether.

Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser of Australia at the White House. New York is among U.S. cities he will tour. Page A6.

A man who died after he was stripped and chased onto the tracks in a Times Square subway station by a mob of jeering youths and vagrants has been identified as a 26-year-old resident of Torrington, Conn., who was on his way to Washington, D.C., for a job interview. The dead man, Gerard Coury, a former honor student, student leader and football player at Torrington High School who dropped out of college after three years, had initially been described by the transit police as a mentally disturbed man. Mr. Coury's family, however, said he had been lucid and sane -at least until he was attacked twice in 24 hours and robbed of his clothes, suitcase and money. His brother Charles, a child-care worker who lives in Litchfield, Conn., said the New York City Medical Examiner's office had suggested that Mr. Coury might have died of a heart attack brought on by terror, but was now leaning toward the conclusion that he had been electrocuted when he placed his hands on the third rail. Dr. Millard Hyland, the deputy chief medical examiner, issued a statement saying that there would be no conclusions on the cause of death until the results of various tests had been reported.

The Consolidation Coal Company, a subsidiary of Conoco Inc., announced yesterday that it had agreed to form a joint venture with Rheinische Braunkohlenwerke A.G., a major West German mining company generally known as Rheinbraun, to develop up to five new coal mines in southwestern Pennsylvania. The deal includes a long-term sales agreement. Consolidation, America's second-largest coal company, said the project could eventually produce 12.5 million tons of coal a year and generate revenues of about $500 million a year (at present coal prices). Marc D. Cohen, a coal analyst for Kidder, Peabody & Company, said the deal, if carried out, would be one of the largest of its kind for steam coal exports and would represent a ''classic'' in terms of how domestic coal companies can go after the booming steam coal export market.

A medical laboratory in New York City that conducts tests to determine whether newborn infants have inherited congenital diseases will be closed by the state tomorrow, according to the State Health Commissioner. All future blood samples from newborn infants will have to be sent to Albany for analysis. The diseases involved can lead to severe mental retardation if they are not rapidly diagnosed and treated, and the laboratory is being closed over the stiff opposition of many New York City physicians. The Commissioner, Dr. David Axelrod, said yesterday that the laboratory - called the Inborn Metabolic Error Screening Program - would be closed despite a commitment from Mayor Koch to provide six months of funds for it until a longer-term solution could be found.

President Reagan today ordered an end to four years of import quotas for shoes. The White House said the action both strengthened the Administration's commitment to free trade and paved the way for lower retail shoe prices. On the unanimous advice of his trade policy advisers but against the urgings of members of Congress from shoe-producing states, the President refused to extend quotas expiring at midnight on shoes imported from Taiwan and South Korea. Industry and Unions Angry The decision to lift the quotas evoked angry reaction from the industry, unions and some legislators. The 170 million pairs of mostly lower-priced shoes purchased from Taiwan and South Korea last year accounted for nearly 50 percent of total American shoe imports, down from 61 percent when the quotas were introduced in the Carter Administration, and about 25 percent of all the shoes sold in the United States.

International A close election in Israel was indicated by projections based on early returns. They showed the two major parties in a tight race that appeared to provide Prime Minister Menachem Begin with a chance to form a new Government based on a slim parliamentary majority. (Page A1, Column 6.) The siege of Zahle ended in Lebanon as Christian militiamen were replaced by Government policemen. The transfer brought the end of a 91-day siege by Syrian troops. (A1:4-5.)

Because of a mechanical error, an article Saturday about a Supreme Court decision on military pensions included a misplaced sentence describing criticism from lawyers familiar with divorce cases. The criticism actually referred to a procedure under which a divorced military spouse could obtain a court order to garnish pension benefits to satisfy an unpaid alimony or child support obligation.

WHENEVER he is invited to eat at Colette Rossant's, Calvin Trillin has written, his wife, Alice, ''is often forced to grab me by the jacket two or three times to keep me from breaking into a steady, uncharacteristic trot'' in the direction of the Rossants' home in Greenwich Village. Her cooking, Mr. Trillin says, ''is so far above frozen food that I have always suspected she may not keep ice cubes.'' In the face of such praise, I found it impossible to refuse an invitation to a Rossant meal, which turned out to be a feast that included an inspired creation as an appetizer - a blend of fresh and smoked salmon that was christened a rillettes of fish; a mushroom consomme made with a rich beef broth plus both wild and fresh mushrooms; a roast of veal that had been cooked to a savory state in milk; whole roasted heads of garlic served with a farmer's cheese sauce; steamed Chinese long eggplants served with ginger sauce and two desserts, including a recent innovation, a custard-like pie whose principal ingredient was beets, and a sweet-tart creation of lemon squares that nicely complemented black coffee.

Libya, the world's highest-priced oil producer, informed its oil customers yesterday that it had lowered the price of its crude to $39.90 a barrel, from $41 - an indication that it can no longer hold out against the downward price pressure of the world oil glut. Oil industry officials involved in the price negotiations with the Libyans said the price cut was significant because it was the first announcement by any of the high-priced African producers of an official price reduction since the onset of the crude surplus. The Libyan reduction could put pressure on oil prices all the way down the line. But the officials said that even at $39.90 a barrel Libyan oil was vastly overpriced, and they predicted many oil companies would suspend their contracts with the North African producer.

The Government reported yesterday that the index of leading economic indicators, which is designed to forecast future economic trends, dropped by 1.8 percent in May, confirming a widespread belief among economists that the economy's growth has slowed. ''The latest reading shows that the economy is relatively weak,'' said Alan C. Lerner, senior vice president of the Bankers Trust Company. ''It's not a recession but a pause,'' said H. Erich Heinemann, vice president of Morgan Stanley & Company. In April, the index rose of four-tenths of 1 percent, following a 1 percent increase in March. Several economists said they thought it was significant that nine out of the 10 May components of the index showed declines.

''The Cultural Revolution, which lasted from May 1966 to October 1976, was responsible for the most severe setback and heaviest losses suffered by the party, the state and the people since the founding of the People's Republic.