December 10, 1984

A picture caption on Nov. 24 with an article about rabbis' use of computers to interpret the Talmud misidentified some symbols shown below Hebrew characters on a screen. They included both vowels and cantillation signs, which denote tones for chanting.

The old toy department, with half an acre of toys and the kids lined up to see Santa, is becoming the ghost of Christmas past at department stores across the land. With the Christmas selling season moving into its most hectic, most profitable final two weeks, the traditional toy department is continuing a long slide in its share of sales. Instead, the hottest segment of the $12.5 billion retail toy business is the ''toy supermarkets'' such as Toys ''R'' Us and Child World. They are challenging the discount stores such as K Mart as the leading outlets in selling toys.

In the Gloucester harbor north of here, where fishermen have brought their catch to dock for more than 350 years, the curved hulls and rigging of the fishing trawlers make a pretty sight. But some of the oldest boats, and some of the newest, are not at dock, nor will they be again. Thirty-seven trawlers, almost a quarter of the Gloucester fleet, have sunk in the last four years, and most lie in deep waters off the coast, in silent monument to a troubled trade. Across the continent, dozens of boats used to fish for Alaskan king crabs have gone down in the Bering Sea. From Alaska to California, from Maine south and around into the Gulf of Mexico, the commercial fishing fleet is embattled by changing times. Faced here and there with diminished fish stocks and increased foreign competition, the industry has been rocked in recent years by an increased number of sinkings in both high seas and calm, prompting suspicion among fishermen and insurers that some boats have been sent under intentionally.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1984 International A key OPEC panel has agreed on pricing changes, according to Saudi Arabia's oil minister, Sheik Yamani. The changes would realign the prices of heavy grades of crude oil in relation to light grades, but he said Saudi benchmark price of $29 a barrel for Arabian Light would be defended. (Page D1.)

At E. F. Hutton & Company, salesmen are rewarded for brisk business with tickets to the Super Bowl, employees are buoyed by motivational lectures from the Knicks' coach, and investment bankers cozy up to clients by chronicling their progress on the tennis court or the ski slopes. ''There's a common denominator in our business between what many of us are doing and our interest and participation in sports,'' said Jerry Lichtstein, one of E. F. Hutton's executive vice presidents, who hired Hubie Brown to address his salesmen and managers. The brokerage house does not promote its services by sponsoring sporting events, and its advertisements are not populated with athletes. Still, when staff members and customers talk, E. F. Hutton listens, recognizing - along with myriad other companies - that sports have become a central part of American culture, a metaphor for achievement and a tool of business. ''Sports are pervasive,'' said Charles McCabe, a senior vice president at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company who has supervised the bank's involvement in a wide-ranging program of athletic sponsorships that includes the New York City Marathon. ''You can't go through a day without someone talking about it.''