July 3, 1985

The Economy Orders to factories rose 2.1 percent in May, reversing a three-month slide. Demand was led by a surge in orders for military goods. And while shipments rose, inventories fell. Analysts said that businesses would have to replenish stocks, giving a boost to industrial production. [Page D1.] Sales of new homes rose 9.7 percent in May, the largest increase in eight months. [D5.] Teachers across the nation are being urged to oppose the Administration's effort to end income tax deductions for state and local taxes. Public education would suffer if such deductions end, according to the National Education Association. [D20.]

''A MAINE shore picnic may start off in bathing suits, but it almost always ends up in down vests,'' William Meisle says with a warning look at his visitors. ''By nightfall you're wrapped in blankets and huddled round the fire. But if it's been a good picnic, that's all part of the fun.'' The best shore picnic, Mr. Meisle insists, is a Maine Fourth of July clambake. Shortly before Independence Day, when the coastal water warms up enough for hardy souls to consider taking the first swim of the season, people start thinking about the beach. The beach means shore picnics, and shore picnics mean clambakes. They are always called clambakes, although lobsters are the quintessential ingredient and the gastronomic focus of these feasts. And they have long been a grand Maine tradition involving family, friends, out-of-town guests and stray visitors, both the two-legged variety and the four-legged.

About 1.5 million Israeli workers went on a nationwide strike today, bringing the country to a partial standstill in protest against Monday's Government-ordered austerity measures. For the most part, however, the public seemed to greet the economic package with relief, viewing the strike as a one-day holiday before they grapple with what many regard as inevitable belt-tightening. The strike had little effect on the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Today it endorsed the Cabinet's emergency economic plan by a vote of 70 to 19. The strike did close all banks, schools, factories, offices, markets, the stock exchange and many shops for the day. No newspapers were published, and all regular radio and television programming was canceled. Only news reports were broadcast.

Pope John Paul II issued an encyclical today calling for ''solidarity'' with his fellow Slavs, religious tolerance in Eastern Europe and closer ties between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The encyclical, the fourth in John Paul's six and a half years as Pope, also emphasized ''the common Christian roots of Europe'' and said Christianity was ''one of the most solid points of reference'' for those who would reunite Eastern and Western Europe. ''Not even today,'' the Pope declared, ''does there exist any other way of overcoming tensions and repairing the divisions and antagonisms, both in Europe and the world, which threaten to cause a frightful destruction of lives and values.'' Anniversary of Saint's Death Titled ''Slavorum Apostoli'' (''The Apostles of the Slavs''), the encyclical was issued in honor of the 1,100th anniversary of the death of St. Methodius. With St. Cyril, his brother, St. Methodius brought Christianity to the Slavs in the ninth century and devised the Cyrillic alphabet.

A special force of 200 police officers seized 160 fugitives yesterday in a series of predawn sweeps at five city housing projects in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. ''It was a very successful operation,'' said Deputy Inspector Vincent Pizzo, the commanding officer of the housing police detective division, who supervised the sweeps. ''We got many of the people we went after, and nobody got hurt.'' The roundup - mainly of people who had failed to keep court appearances in connection with previous arrests on misdemeanor charges or for lesser violations - was part of an operation started yesterday that is largely aimed at combating a rising tide of robberies in Brownsville, police officials said. The officials said at least some of those arrested might be responsible for burglaries.