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Moishe Oofnik
PERFORMER Gilles Ben-David

Moishe Oofnik (מוישה אופניק) is a brown Grouch who lives in a broken car. He's the resident Grouch on Rechov Sumsum, the Israeli co-production of Sesame Street. He also appeared in the bilingual version, Shalom Sesame and the later Israeli-Palestinian co-production Rechov Sumsum/Shara'a Simsim. In 2006, he returned for the new version of Rechov Sumsum, where he resides in a recycling bin.

He is the cousin of Oscar the Grouch, and, not surprisingly, shares many of his cousin's tastes. Rather than celebrating Rosh Hashanah by dipping apple slices into honey for a sweet new year, Moishe would rather dip it in something sour, greasy, or rotten. He loves to hear Itzhak Perlman play violin, so long as the music is off-key. If he responds lovingly to flowers and puppies, it's probably a sign that he's come down with a bad case of spring fever. According to one scene from the show (re-dubbed for the Shalom Sesame episode "Tel Aviv"), Moishe's grandfather was a pioneer and the first Grouch in Israel.

Moishe Oofnik is the only Israeli Muppet who has endured since the first incarnation of Rechov Sumsum. Haim Idisis, a long-time scriptwriter for the show, explained his longevity:

Oofnik is probably the only lasting character. Those types always survive, he'll stay shut in his trash can and survive. He's not young, but he'll stay childish forever.[1]

In 1993, he and Kippi Ben Kippod appeared on Sesame Street Stays Up Late, to show how Israel rings in the New Year.

Name notes[]

"Oofnik," a made up term, was used as the equivalent of Grouch and defined as such in publicity for Shalom Sesame.[2] In a 2022 Kveller article, Lior Zaltzman claims that the word Oofnik comes "from the onomatopoeic word 'oof' used to express frustration... The -nik is a common suffix used in Yiddish and in Hebrew, that denotes a person (or a puppet, in this case) is associated with a certain thing — like in nudnik or kibbutznik." Zaltzman concludes that "Moishe is the puppet embodiment of 'oof-ness,' if you will."

In Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting and Sesame Street Stays Up Late, the character is introduced as "Oofnik the Grouch."

Book appearances[]

See also[]

Sources[]

  1. Ynet. August 2006. Hebrew article.
  2. Northern California Jewish Bulletin Vol. 139. 1990.
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