What was going on when I was born?

''I was born free and I want to die free as a citizen of this great country.'' - Gabriel Isahar Isaharov, 99 years old, on being granted citizenship by a Federal judge. (B6:1.)

Alan J. Hirschfield, the winner in a nearly two-year power struggle at the 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation, is expected to be named chairman and chief executive of the company tomorrow by Marvin Davis, the oil billionaire who purchased Fox last spring for $800 million and turned it into a private company. Mr. Hirschfield was the victor in a bitter battle with Dennis C. Stanfill, who resigned June 30 as the company's chairman and chief executive. Mr. Stanfill's letter of resignation stated that Fox had ''materially breached'' his employment contract and that his ''ability to function as the chief executive officer of the corporation'' and his ability ''to maintain the standards by which Fox has operated have been irreparably impaired.''

The stock market failed yesterday to sustain a rally attempt and prices then plunged abruptly, sending the Dow Jones industrial average to its lowest closing this year. The indicator tumbled 9.80 points, to 924.66, bringing its combined loss this week to 34 points. Once again, analysts cited the high level of interest rates - both short-term and long-term - as the critical factor in turning investors away from the stock market when lofty yields are available elsewhere. Some money market funds, for example, return upwards of 17 percent.

Experts see few parallels be- tween U.S. and British riots A2 In Belfast, rain heightens feeling of being ''trapped'' A3 Chinese official says worst of Yangtze flooding is over A5 Polish tension eases as negotia- tors avert strikes A7 Salvadorans held on Coast as aliens ask Reagan for asylum A8 Five nations press for Namibia action A8 Around the World A9 Reagan says Mitterrand broke the ice at Ottawa A10 Many U.S. Jews distressed over Israeli and P.L.O. raids A13 Government/Politics Republicans dividing and con- quering in Texas redistricting A16 Walter Mondale challenges Rea- gan ''indifference.'' A17 New Representative finds her work satisfying and rewarding B2 Carey signs measure to promote nuclear safety B2 Koch and Carey aides press for pact on Westway B3 Several court and legislative challenges await Westway B3 General Around the Nation A16 Pace and number of investiga- tions increase in hotel accident A16 Reagan denies rumors that Casey will quit as head of the C.I.A.A18 Croatian-Americans uneasy after arrest of 9 terror suspects A20 Notes from around the sanitation circuit B1 Port Chester pinning its hopes on redevelopment projects B1 5 lawyers accused of soliciting medical malpractice clients B4 Religion Jesuit Center on Broad Street hopes for brighter future B4 Home Section Home The furniture of Marcel Breuer: classics and surprises C1 A city townhouse risen from ashes C1 People who help you get it done C3 Unsold house to be raffled off C7 A country home that's fit for a prince C8 With the lettuce, a new love grows C1 Hers C2 Helpful Hardware C2 Home Beat C3 Home Improvement C4 Caldenar of events C9 Design Notebook C10 Gardening C12 Sowing crops now to enjoy in the fall C13 Arts/Entertainment Williamstown Festival stages ''Arms and the Man'' C17 Joanna Meier to sing Isolde in Bayreuth C17 String Fever group succeeds Jazz Ah Cordes C20 Tilson Thomas conducts sym- phony by Salieri C20 Wilkinson's ''Intellectual Resist- ance in Europe'' reviewed C21 The Pilobolus Dance Theater per- forms in Durham, N.C. C21 Networks going all out for cover- age of royal wedding C23 New opera house opening in Northern Catskills C24 Obituaries Gen. Aleksandr G. Kotikov, Soviet chief in Berlin in 1948 B5 Carol Fox, co-founder of the Lyric Opera of Chicago B5 Sports U.S. captures three gold medals at World University Games B6 George Vecsey on the first U.S. cyclist in the Tour de France B6 Jane Blalock finally enjoying the women's golf tour B6 Key committees for owners and players meet in secret session B7 Other unions see benefits in base- ball strike B7 Rasmussen of Jets back for 15th season B7 Cosmos defeat Manic by 5-4 in shootout B7 Saumell granted appeal to ride again at Belmont B8 Features/Notes Issue and Debate: Should the law on bribery abroad be changed? D1 Notes on People B6 Going Out Guide C14 News Analysis Drew Middleton assesses Israeli strategy in Lebanon A11 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A22 Better deaf than dumb allies Coping with crime ''Not in my neighborhood'' Letters A22 Anthony Lewis: ''race upon race'' A23 David Biale: the two Menachem Begins A23 Ethan Gologor: crashing red lights A23 Peter G. Peterson: spending limits A23

Under pressure from New Jersey's Public Advocate, the Casino Control Commission agreed at a meeting here today to study what the advocate's office says is a housing shortage caused by the growth of the casino industry in Atlantic City. The commission unanimously adopted a resolution committing it to follow up the study with hearings and regulations designed to ease the shortage. The commission acted after Richard A. Goldberg, assistant deputy public advocate, and leaders of Atlantic City neighborhood associations told the commission that the housing shortage had worsened drastically since the casinos arrived three years ago. ''Thousands of longtime residents of Atlantic City are being forced out of their homes and out of the city by the casino industry,'' Mr. Goldberg said, ''with no action taken by the commission to control this.''

For several years, the officials who run this small Westchester County village on Long Island Sound at the portals to Connecticut have insisted that the economy of its rundown central business district is about to turn the corner. Today Governor Carey came here to lend his encouragement by appearing at the downtown ground-breaking for a $3.8 million building, to be known as the Westchester Opportunities Industrialization Center, for teaching office skills to the unemployed. The 38,500-square-foot center, which will include commercial office space, will be used to train the unskilled, unemployed and disadvantaged in such things as key-punch operation, clerical typing and word processing to help them get into good-paying jobs. Port Chester was once called ''Saw Pits,'' according to local lore, because of its lively lumber trade. Lumber schooners sailed up the Byram River, which separates Port Chester from Connecticut.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Fred Halliday is a novelist and screenwriter who lives in New York. By FRED HALLIDAY IT began last year, in the spring. I was buying vegetables from my favorite country gardener, who stuck his weathered face inside my car, putting in a question with my purchases. ''Is your mom up this week?'' he asked. ''No, Bob, she isn't,'' I told him. ''Well, if you don't have her up,'' he asked, ''how am I going to woo her?'' He gave me a wink with the parsley.

THE brick town house on West 11th Street in Greenwich Village is a close match for its 140-year-old neighbors, but there are differences: On the middle floors, its front wall angles in and out, and in the windowed prow of the second-floor library, overlooking the sidewalk, there stands a toy bear from London named Paddington. In clear bright weather, when light floods through the large windows and courses off the cleanly molded diagonal walls and angles of the lofted house inside, the bear wears dark glasses. When the weather is wet outside, he wears a yellow hat and slicker and bluechecked tennis shoes. At Christmas he is dressed as Santa Claus, and he has a drawerful of other changes to suit the weather, or the whimsy of the moment. The children of the neighborhood write him loving notes. And the grown-ups leave funny presents in the mailbox for this amusing little bear, whose presence marks the end to a decade of grim and contentious history.

The Chrysler Corporation, which was on the edge of bankruptcy a little more than a year ago, reported today that it earned $12 million in the second quarter of 1981. This was its first profit in more than two years. Speaking at the National Press Club here, Chrysler's chairman, Lee A. Iacocca, said, ''Chrysler has fought its way back to profitability, and everyone associated with this company has reason to be proud.'' Some financial analysts argue, however, that at least part of the profit was contrived because Chrysler concentrated more production in the quarter than was justified by retail sales. And they say the long-term viability of the company, which was rescued from bankruptcy by $1.2 billion in federally guaranteed loans, remains in doubt.

International The United States criticized Israel because of the Israeli air strikes in Lebanon. Two top Reagan Administration officials suggested that the policies of Prime Minister Menachem Begin had set back American efforts to obtain a cease-fire and had made it more difficult to resume deliveries of F-16 jets to Israel. (Page A1, Column 6.) Israeli jets made four raids on two makeshift bridges on the coastal road between Beirut and Tyre. At least 50 people were reported killed. Farther north, at least 18 people were reported killed and an oil pipeline was set afire in two Israeli strikes. (A12:1-3.)

When the Rev. Francis Pizzarelli opened the rectory door at Infant Jesus Catholic Church in Port Jefferson, L.I., in March 1980, he found a wiry 15-year-old seeking sanctuary. His name was Jamie Schaeffer and he had bolted from a custody hearing after a Family Court judge ruled that he must leave his father's home in Long Island and return to his mother's home in Florida. ''The police are looking for me,'' he told the priest. It was not the first time that Jamie had defied court orders to live with his mother, who was granted custody when the Schaeffers were divorced in 1975, nor, as it turned out, was it the last time. At issue in custody disputes such as the one involving Jamie is the right of parents to rear a child as they see fit as against vaguely defined rights of children in the evolving American family.

The Exxon Corporation, the world's largest industrial company, yesterday reported that it earned $1.83 billion, or $2.11 a share, over all in the second quarter, up 77 percent from the $1.03 billion, or $1.18 a share, it had reported for the comparable period a year earlier. But operating profits fell 13 percent. Much of the gain over all was a result of the recent strength of the dollar, which allowed Exxon to reduce its foreign liabilities, on paper, when it translated these debts into dollars. Exxon's operating earnings, excluding these gains and several other financial factors, declined by 13 percent, to $1.35 billion.