Shalom Sesame

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.^[1][2] The new series added Mahboub, an Arab Israeli muppet, and other new characters from the 2006 revival of Rechov Sumsum.^[3]

Characters from Rechov Sumsum

• Kippi ben Kippod, a giant hedgehog analogous to Big Bird
• Moishe Oofnik, Oscar the Grouch'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).
• It's a Mitzvah, Grover! by Tilda Balsley (Author), Ellen Fischer (Author), Tom Leigh (Illustrator), ISBN 0761375627
• Grover and Big Bird's Passover Celebration by Tilda Balsley (Author), Ellen Fischer (Author), Tom Leigh (Illustrator), ISBN 0761384928
• The Count's Hanukkah Countdown by Tilda Balsley (Author), Ellen Fischer (Author), Tom Leigh (Illustrator), ISBN 0761375570

Episode list

1986 series

1. "The Land of Israel"
2. "Tel-Aviv"
3. "Kibbutz"
4. "The People of Israel"
5. "Jerusalem"

1990 series

1. "Chanukah"
2. "Sing Around the Seasons"
3. "Journey to Secret Places"
4. "Aleph-Bet Telethon"
5. "Passover"
6. "Kids Sing Israel"

2010 series

1. "Welcome to Israel"
2. "Chanukah: The Missing Menorah"

2011 series

1. "Shabbat Shalom, Grover!"
2. "Grover Plants a Tree"
3. "Mitzvah on the Street"
4. "Be Happy, It's Purim!"
5. "It's Passover, Grover!"
6. "Grover Learns Hebrew"
7. "Countdown to Shavuot"
8. "The Sticky Shofar"
9. "Monsters in the Sukkah"
10. "Adventures in Israel"

Video and DVDs

In the 1990s, the entire series was released on home video, in the VHS 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.

References

External links

• Shalom Sesame: official website
• Israel 21c" "Shalom Sesame"