Shalom Sesame
Encyclopedia
Shalom Sesame is an adaptation of Sesame Street
, the children's television show. It was produced in 1986 and 1990 for public television stations in the United States, aimed at introducing Israel
and Judaism
to children. Unlike the main Sesame Street series, Shalom Sesame was independently distributed to PBS-member stations, and not by PBS themselves.
It includes characters from both Sesame Street and
Rechov Sumsum, the Hebrew
/Arabic
version of Sesame Street, produced and aired in Israel
, the Palestinian territories
, and Jordan
.
Also, as with the American series, the series featured special guests well-known to American viewers. Guests included Itzhak Perlman
, Bonnie Franklin
, Mary Tyler Moore
, Mandy Patinkin
, Alan King
, Joan Rivers
, Nell Carter
, Jerry Stiller
& Anne Meara
, Tracey Gold
, B.B. King, Sarah Jessica Parker
, and Paul Schaffer.
In October 2010, a new 12-part Shalom Sesame series began, with stars including Jake Gyllenhaal
, Christina Applegate
, Debra Messing
, Greg Kinnear
, Anneliese van der Pol
, and Cedric the Entertainer
. The new series added Mahboub, an Arab Israeli muppet, and other new characters from the 2006 revival of Rechov Sumsum.
format.
In the mid-2000s, SISU Home Entertainment
, a U.S. marketer and distributor of Israeli and Jewish video, audio, book, and multimedia properties] released the entire series on a five-disc DVD
set, available as a set or per disc.
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, the children's television show. It was produced in 1986 and 1990 for public television stations in the United States, aimed at introducing Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
to children. Unlike the main Sesame Street series, Shalom Sesame was independently distributed to PBS-member stations, and not by PBS themselves.
It includes characters from both Sesame Street and
Rechov Sumsum, the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
/Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
version of Sesame Street, produced and aired in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, the Palestinian territories
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
, and Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
.
Also, as with the American series, the series featured special guests well-known to American viewers. Guests included Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...
, Bonnie Franklin
Bonnie Franklin
Bonnie Gail Franklin is an American actress, best known for her starring role in the television series One Day at a Time.-Personal life:...
, Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...
, Mandy Patinkin
Mandy Patinkin
Mandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. He is a noted interpreter of the musical works of Stephen Sondheim, and is best-known for his work in musical theatre, originating iconic roles such as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park...
, Alan King
Alan King (comedian)
Alan King was an American actor and comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He was also a serious actor who appeared in a number of movies and television shows. King wrote several books, produced films, and...
, Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
, Nell Carter
Nell Carter
Nell Carter was an American singer, and film, stage, and television actress. She won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin, as well as an Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television...
, Jerry Stiller
Jerry Stiller
Gerald Isaac "Jerry" Stiller is an American comedian and actor.He spent many years in the comedy team Stiller and Meara with his wife Anne Meara...
& Anne Meara
Anne Meara
Anne Meara is an American actress and comedian. She and Jerry Stiller were a prominent 1960s comedy team, appearing as Stiller and Meara, and are the parents of actor/comedian Ben and actress Amy Stiller.- Personal life :...
, Tracey Gold
Tracey Gold
Tracey Gold is an American actress and former child star best known for playing Carol Seaver on the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains. In early 2009, she co-hosted with Fred Roggin on the live show GSN Live.-Early life:...
, B.B. King, Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
, and Paul Schaffer.
In October 2010, a new 12-part Shalom Sesame series began, with stars including Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
, Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning Tony and Golden Globe nominations...
, Debra Messing
Debra Messing
Debra Lynn Messing is an American actress, voice artist, and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for her role as Grace Adler in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace and as Molly Kagan in the mini-series The Starter Wife....
, Greg Kinnear
Greg Kinnear
Gregory "Greg" Kinnear is an American actor and television personality who first rose to stardom in 1991. He has appeared in more than 20 motion pictures, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets.-Early life:Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, the son of...
, Anneliese van der Pol
Anneliese van der Pol
Anneliese Louise van der Pol is a Dutch-American actress and singer. After an early career in musical theatre, she was cast as Chelsea Daniels in the Disney Channel Original Series That's So Raven, a role that gained her renown among young audiences. Van der Pol also has a career as a singer and...
, and Cedric the Entertainer
Cedric the Entertainer
Cedric Antonio Kyles , known professionally by his stage name Cedric the Entertainer, is an American actor, comedian and director...
. The new series added Mahboub, an Arab Israeli muppet, and other new characters from the 2006 revival of Rechov Sumsum.
Characters from Rechov Sumsum
- Kippi ben KippodKipi Ben KipodKipi Ben-Kipod is a main, and probably the best known character in Rechov Sumsum, the Israeli version of the children's television series Sesame Street....
, a giant hedgehog analogous to Big BirdBig BirdBig Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends.... - Moishe UfnickMoishe OofnikMoishe Oofnik , is a main character in Rechov Sumsum, the Israeli version of the children's television series Sesame Street. He is the equivalent of Sesame Street's Oscar the Grouch. He is also a relative....
, Oscar the GrouchOscar the GrouchOscar the Grouch is a Muppet character on the television program Sesame Street. He has a green body , has no nose , and lives in a trash can. His favorite thing in life is trash; evidence for this is the song "I Love Trash". A running theme is his compulsive hoarding of seemingly useless items...
's own grouchy cousin
Books
- Shalom Sesame Presents a Chanukah Party for Kippi is a book written by Louise Gikow, based on the Shalom Sesame series. It was published by Comet International in August 1995 as a paperback (ISBN 1-884857-06-X).
1986 series
- "The Land of Israel"
- "Tel-Aviv"
- "Kibbutz"
- "The People of Israel"
- "Jerusalem"
1990 series
- "Chanukah"
- "Sing Around the Seasons"
- "Journey to Secret Places"
- "Aleph-Bet Telethon"
- "Passover"
- "Kids Sing Israel"
2011 series
- "Shabbat Shalom, Grover!"
- "Grover Plants a Tree"
- "Mitzvah on the Street"
- "Be Happy, It's Purim!"
- "It's Passover, Grover!"
- "Grover Learns Hebrew"
- "Countdown to Shavuot"
- "The Sticky Shofar"
- "Monsters in the Sukkah"
- "Adventures in Israel"
Video and DVDs
In the 1990s, the entire series was released on home video, in the VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
format.
In the mid-2000s, SISU Home Entertainment
SISU Home Entertainment
SISU Home Entertainment, Inc. is a U.S. marketer and distributor of Israeli and Jewish video, audio, book, and multimedia properties. It was established in 1988....
, a U.S. marketer and distributor of Israeli and Jewish video, audio, book, and multimedia properties] released the entire series on a five-disc DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
set, available as a set or per disc.