Kishkashta was the main character in one of the first Israeli Educational Television

Israeli Educational Television

The Israeli Educational Television is a state-owned public television network which used to concentrate on producing and broadcasting programs for schoolchildren. The first Israeli children's show, featuring Kishkashta, aired on Channel 1 in the 1970s and '80s...

 shows, Ma Pit'om (מה פתאום; "What on earth?" or, "You don't say!"), written by, among other screenwriters, Tamar Adar

Tamar Adar

Tamar Adar , was an Israeli writer, poet, playwright, and screenwriter. Adar has written screenplays for several popular Israeli television series and has published tens of popular children's books, as well as various other works...

. The show aired in the 1970s and '80s, when there was only one television station in Israel

Channel 1 (Israel)

Channel 1 is one of the oldest television channels in Israel and one of five terrestrial channels in the country...

, TV was still black and white, and there were only a few hours of television a day.

Kishkashta was a talking cactus, a felt puppet equivalent to Big Bird

Big Bird

Big 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....

, 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, today a famous Israeli new age

New Age

The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...

 figure, sang the song Ma Pit'om with Kishkashta in the opening act.

In Israel, the cactus is a symbol of Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i-born Jews, called sabras

Sabra (person)

Sabra is a term used to describe a Jew born in Israeli territory; the term is also usually inclusive of Jews born during the period of the establishment of the state of Israel. The word "sabra" is Arabic and Hebrew. Immigrants to Palestine began using it in the early 1930s, according to the The...

 ("prickly pear

Opuntia

Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...

"), as opposed to those who immigrated later, even though the cactus

Cactus

A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...

 itself is not a native plant

Native plant

Native plant is a term to describe plants endemic or naturalized to a given area in geologic time.This includes plants that have developed, occur naturally, or existed for many years in an area...

. 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

• Kishkashta- Classic version, on Israeli Educational Television
  Israeli Educational Television
  The Israeli Educational Television is a state-owned public television network which used to concentrate on producing and broadcasting programs for schoolchildren. The first Israeli children's show, featuring Kishkashta, aired on Channel 1 in the 1970s and '80s...
  
  .
• Kishkashta- Newer version, on Israeli Educational Television
  Israeli Educational Television
  The Israeli Educational Television is a state-owned public television network which used to concentrate on producing and broadcasting programs for schoolchildren. The first Israeli children's show, featuring Kishkashta, aired on Channel 1 in the 1970s and '80s...
  
  .
• Youtube video of Kishkashta
• Hebrew site with video of Kishkashta