Kishkashta (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: קישקשתא) was the main character in one of the first

Israeli Educational Television The Israeli Educational Television (also known as IETV, he, הטלוויזיה החינוכית הישראלית, ''HaŦelevizia HaKhinuchít HaIsraelit'' or just ''חינוכית'' - ''Hinuchit'') was a state-owned public terrestrial televisio ...

shows, ''Ma Pit'om'' (''מה פתאום;'' ''"What on earth?"'' or ''"No way!"''), written by, among other screenwriters, Tamar Adar. The show aired in the 1970s and '80s, when there was only one television station in Israel, TV was still black and white, and there were only a few hours of television a day.

History

Kishkashta was a talking cactus, a felt puppet equivalent to

Big Bird Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the long-running children's television show ''Sesame Street''. An eight-foot two-inch (249 cm) tall bright yellow anthropomorphic bird, he can roller skat ...

, who introduced himself singing a solitary song, ''Ma Pit'om:'' "''They call me 'Kishkashta,' Kishkashta is my name... I almost forgot: 'hello!' I sing and dance almost by myself - in the program ''Ma Pit'om''." ( קוראים לי קישקשתא....'' קישקשתא זה שמי.... כמעט ושכחתי: שלום! אני שר ורוקד לי כמעט בעצמי.... בתוכנית מה פתאום). The show consisted of Kishkashta asking questions of himself as well as of the Israeli children who were his co-hosts. Nira Rabinovitch, now involved in

new age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

ideas in Israel, co-starred with Kishkashta in many of the show's episodes, and sang the song ''Ma Pit'om'' with Kishkashta in the opening act. In Israel, the cactus is a symbol of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i-born Jews, called sabras (" prickly pear"), as opposed to those who immigrated later, even though the

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...

itself is not a

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

. ''Kishkashta'' embodied the image of Israeli ''sabra'' identity, a character "rough from the outside but soft and sweet from the inside." He had a deep, melancholic voice and possessed an independent spirit exuding the ''dugri'' (straight) ''sabra'' character for which Israelis are known.

Ma Pit'om lyrics (in Hebrew)

קוראים לי קישקשתא.... קישקשתא זה שמי.... כמעט ושכחתי: שלום! אני שר ורוקד לי כמעט בעצמי.... בתוכנית מה פתאום.... אני שר בעצמי ורוקד עם עצמי... ומספר סיפורים לבד.... מוחא גם כפיים - למי?.... לעצמי!.... והכל בעצמי!.... כמעט....... אני שר - מה פתאום?.... אני מוכשר? מה פתאום?.... והכל בעצמי....... מה פתאום? מה פתאום? מה פתאום?.... תשאלו מה פתאום הם קוראים לי קישקשתא:.... באמת, מה פתאום?.... מה פתאום

External links

* Also See Tha
TV Series
on Affilosophy
Kishkashta- Classic version
on

Kan Educational Kan Educational ( he, כאן חינוכית, Kan Hinuchit) is a public television channel in Israel designated for children, on behalf of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation. The channel launched on August 15, 2018 and replaced Israeli Educati ...

Israeli Educational Television Israeli children's television series Israeli television shows featuring puppetry Puppets 1980s Israeli television series 1970s Israeli television series 1981 Israeli television series endings 1976 Israeli television series debuts {{Israel-tv-stub

History

Ma Pit'om lyrics (in Hebrew)

See also

External links