COLUMN ONE : New Jersey Comes to Jerusalem : Cowboys and McDavid’s restaurants thrive in a kosher version of the American Dream. Some see a threat to Zionist pride and simplicity.

NEVE ILAN, Israel —  Dooby Salman, Israeli cowboy, fell in love with lassos and Stetsons during the filming of a Western in the desert near the Dead Sea.

He went off to California to learn rodeo techniques, dropped the English- and cavalry-style riding he had learned at home and came back to Israel a self-styled wrangler.

Salman is trying to share his love affair with fellow Israelis, even ones who wouldn’t know a bronco from a blintz. Last week at this hilltop kibbutz near Jerusalem, Salman helped put on Israel’s first rodeo. Tame as it was--there were no wild bulls or bucking stallions--the rodeo was in many ways little different from one that might be held in a small town in Texas.

Young riders strode bow-legged in Levi’s and pointy-toed boots. A duo from the Bronx and Brooklyn played bluegrass tunes while a vendor selling hamburgers and corn-on-the-cob clanged a triangle and called out “Come and get it.”

It was a purely American scene, although there were plenty of non-Americans participating, including Salman, who is a native-born Israeli. It was just one scene in an Israel that is looking more and more American.

“People here love American things,” said Salman, as he made his way to the calf-roping event. “The U.S. has a good image.”

The American Dream--at least its consumer life and its wealth of variety--is taking hold in Israel. From fast skateboards to fast food, from suburban cookouts to inner-city slang, from Batman to bingo, Israel is nurturing a style that is very much made in America.

Although such a phenomenon is far from unique to Israel, it is a cause for special vexation here. Israel is a country that has dedicated itself to be the Promised Land for world Jewry. Now, in its 42nd year as a state, Israel finds itself in a quiet but persistent competition with the United States for the body and soul of Jewry. Not only is America beckoning from abroad, it is invading Israeli life.

In the view of some Israelis, the embrace of American life styles is a sign of a weakening of an Israeli vision once based on self-sacrifice and relative simplicity.

“If what we are offering is a kosher version of the American dream, why should Jews come here? They can go to the United States and get the real thing,” remarked sociologist Sasha Weitman.

The difficulty Israel faces competing with America on the field of carefree dreams recently became clear with the news that many Soviet Jews, when free to emigrate, preferred to bypass Zion and head straight for Brooklyn. Some of the Soviet Jews said that if diverted by U.S. immigration restrictions to go to Israel, they would rather stay in the Soviet Union.

Despite this slap in the face, somehow the competition with the United States remains friendly, at least in the public mind. In some spheres, the United States is a clear model. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em: Among the plethora of Israeli hamburger chains is one called McDavid’s, after the biblical king, and another called King Donald. Something called Turbo Burger just opened in Jerusalem.

Friendliness is reinforced by the U.S. government, which remains Israel’s most steadfast and proven friend, periodic differences of foreign policy aside. Europe, by way of contrast, has leaned strongly to the Arab side in Israel’s conflict with Palestinians, while the Soviet Union has withheld diplomatic links with Israel in favor of alliances with some of the country’s most staunch enemies.

The United States is by far Israel’s most generous benefactor. Annual military and economic aid amounts to $3 billion a year, a tenth of Israel’s gross national product.

Unlike the aid that Washington hands most countries, this largess comes with few strings attached. Israel may spend it as it likes, although much of the military aid must be used to buy American equipment. Golda Meir, the late prime minister, once joked, “Israel is the only country in the world that loves America despite the fact that it gives it military and economic aid.”

The strength of the American Jewish community also presents an attractive if sometimes irritating model for Israel. American Jews are assertive, challenging the notion that Jews dispersed throughout the world--the Diaspora--must be self-effacing lest they run the risk of attracting aggression from a majority, non-Jewish society.

Dogma Challenged

The evidence that Jews in America can live a fulfilling Jewish life abroad is yet another challenge to Zionist dogma. The Diaspora was, after all, supposed to wither away; the exiles were supposed to gather in Israel. In the case of America, something of the reverse has happened. Since 1948, about 60,000 Americans have moved to Israel, but more than 170,000 Israelis have moved to the United States.

“In some cases, the U.S. even gets the cream,” noted David Hartman, an Orthodox rabbi and director of the Shamol Hartman Institute of Advanced Judaic Studies. “America has resources, grants, important universities. It is hard for Israel to compete.”

At home, a taste for things American flowered from 1977 onward after the ascendancy of the right-wing Likud Party in national politics. The socialist dogma of the early Zionists, with its emphasis on equality and pride of austerity, decayed. Self-reliance, in part buffeted by the increasing levels of American aid, fell out of fashion.

The Likud promoted both an aggressive nationalism and a free-market, demand-side economy. Consumption and wealth were no longer political sins. In effect, Likud called out, “Come and get it,” and the population responded with a burst of travel and buying based in part on borrowing in an overheated economy. More and more, Israel, especially the coastal strip centered on Tel Aviv, came to resemble an extended Los Angeles suburb.

Saturday night at the mall has become a favorite family pastime. Pastel restaurants with waiters who greet customers with, “Shalom, my name is Moshe” are all the rage. Soccer is still king, but basketball, complete with a few imported Americans, runs a strong second. There may be more to come: Cable television is on its way, with its promise of access to the Super Bowl and CNN.

There is little self-consciousness about aping American ways, perhaps because Israel has never settled on a uniform cultural model. Although prominent, the American style is but one of several molds shaping Israeli life.

The dwindling life style of the cooperative kibbutz continues to attract a few adherents, although the legendary uniformity has given way to consumer lust; the craze for video tape recorders has reached places where once all families watched television in common rooms.

Remnants of high European culture dominate the concert halls of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, although the auditoriums have made room for styles of Western rock. Relative newcomers from North Africa and the Near East have contributed a spicy Oriental ambiance to many towns and neighborhoods.

The fast-growing religious community has become bolder and bolder in trying to press rules of piety on the majority secular society. Even here, American style has penetrated. In the religious neighborhood of Bnei Brak, there is a rock band that sings praises to the Lord to a heavy metal beat.

The Hebrew language, an open repository of influence from Israel’s many ethnic groups, is also showing signs of Americanization. Want to offer your friends a cocktail at a bar? Ask the waiter for a round of drinkim .

For participants at the Neve Ilan rodeo, acting American seemed to be as natural as could be. Some even took the view that engaging in this particular pastime was the most Israeli thing you can do.

“Rodeo fits the Israeli character,” said Sandy Kessler, 35, a native of Seattle and a novice rider. “It’s wild and crazy.”

The rodeo was the brainchild of Dooby Salman and Anthony Lipschitz, a South African who runs a riding school at Neve Ilan, which lies on a high hill 10 miles west of Jerusalem. Cattle ranching has begun to be big business in Israel’s north, and so the image of a cowboy on the range is becoming more and more familiar to Israelis.

“This is a country of immigrants, so there is bound to be variety like this. There is no reason for us all to be the same,” said Lipschitz, who rode his prize stallion, Shades of Silver, in the opening parade.

On rodeo day, Israel’s current tribulations seemed far away--although among the prizes were protective windshield covers designed to keep glass from shattering in case a Palestinian throws a well-aimed rock.

Young riders raced from barrel to barrel. Teams from farms and ranches put their mounts through meticulous trials meant to simulate chores on the range. All the while, fiddlers struck up “Tennessee Stud” and “Turkey in the Straw” to an appreciative audience.

“Next year, we’ll bring in wild bulls,” predicted Salman.

The Brahma bulls that make perfect riding stock exist in Israel; what’s needed is a proper arena with chutes and strong fences, he said, explaining why there weren’t present this year.

That addition should complete an authentic American afternoon. Just about everything else was in place: kids chewing gum and wearing souvenir T-shirts from Cape Canaveral and the Hard Rock Cafe; cowgirls wearing belt buckles the size of small pizzas, and of course, brisk sales of the cowboy hats--made in Hong Kong.