Rechov Sumsum Fosters Respect and Understanding Among Israel’s Children

Every December in the hilly Israeli coastal town of Haifa, people of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds come together for the “Holiday of Holidays,” where they celebrate Hanukkah, Ramadan, and Christmas as one united group. There’s a festive atmosphere as families watch parades, enjoy traditional foods, and revel in the spirit of the winter holiday season.

Isaac Herzog, former Minister of Tourism in Israel, and Yona Yahav, the Mayor of Haifa, unveils the street sign at the launch party in Haifa.

At the 2006 Holiday of Holidays, there was an additional cause for excitement and celebration: the return of Rechov Sumsum, the locally produced and much loved Israeli version of Sesame Street.

To mark the launch of the new Rechov Sumsum, which first began in Israel in 1983, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav and Israeli Minister of Tourism Isaac Herzog named a city street after the show. When the two officials unveiled a bilingual Rechov Sumsum street sign featuring Sesame Street in both Hebrew and Arabic, the crowd of thousands cheered and clapped for this symbol of renewed hope and inspiration.

This celebration took place just months after Katyusha rocket missiles struck Haifa in the summer of 2006, during the Israeli-Lebanon crisis.

At the Rechov Sumsum launch event, Sesame Workshop producer Veronica Wulff recalls seeing an abandoned building with a huge hole where a missile had blasted the building that summer. On the walls of the community center, children had used crayons to express the fear and sadness they felt during this time.

“These very children now smiled and played around me without a care in the world,” Wulff says.

Giving children the tools they need to solve conflict

Brosh, Mahboub, Moshe Oofnik, Abigail, Noah (Rechov Sumsum)

Sesame Workshop has had a presence in Israel since 1983, when Rechov Sumsum was first broadcast. The newly relaunched show, a co-production between Sesame Workshop and Israel’s leading children’s channel, Channel Hop!, continues this well-established tradition of encouraging mutual respect and understanding among Israel’s culturally and religiously diverse communities. It also seeks to provide a safe haven for children experiencing turbulence and unpredictability as they learn to respect and appreciate other people.

Wulff says these concepts are at the heart of Rechov Sumsum’s mission.

“Teaching principles of respect and understanding is crucial, especially for children growing up in areas of conflict,” she says.

The show achieves this using the Rechov Sumsum Muppets and storylines addressing curricular objectives of cooperation and empathy. In one segment featuring Mahboub, a gentle, artistic Arab-Israeli Muppet, and Noah, a kind-hearted Jewish-Israeli Muppet, the two squabble over a toy rabbit they both want. They eventually decide to take turns, with each Muppet taking the rabbit home for three days a week and their friend Irina taking it on Saturdays.

In another segment that models cooperation and peaceful problem-solving strategies, each of the Muppets prepares food for their neighbor Gershon’s birthday breakfast. They disagree strongly with each other over who should present gifts to the birthday boy. When Gershon enters and sees everything his friends have prepared, the Muppets realize they should all present their gifts together, and with this mutually agreed-upon compromise in place the group sits down to a birthday feast.

Representing Israel’s increasing diversity

The goal of fostering respect and understanding is increasingly important as Israel’s population grows more diverse. Political rifts between Arabs and Jew continue to intensify and Israel’s Jewish population has become increasingly polarized across a religious/secular divide. Furthermore, many children whose families recently immigrated to Israel from Russia and Ethiopia are now growing up in Israel. Children from each of these demographic groups are watching Rechov Sumsum, and the series aims to resonate with characters who openly explore ideas, emotions, and identity in age-appropriate scenarios.

Irina, a Russian-Israeli character in Rechov Sumsum

Rechov Sumsum incorporates a cast and themes that reflect this diversity and provide authentic and diverse role models for children. A magic shop on the set is run by a Russian-Israeli character; the shop’s signage, not simply a design detail but a conscientious decision of the production team, is written in both Hebrew and Russian.

Producers strive to incorporate elements of Arab culture into the show with a production team of writers, directors, educators, and researchers who themselves also reflect the diversity in the series. Wulff recalls her surprise at learning that prior to working on Rechov Sumsum, some Jewish members of the production team had never spoken to an Arab before.

“When adults have not met their own neighbors face to face, the role of television and other media becomes all the more important for children. Rechov Sumsum exposes viewers to real children who may in fact be their neighbors but whom they may never have an opportunity to meet given today’s reality,“ says Sesame Workshop project director Danny Labin.

To introduce children to their neighbors, some live action films focus on the country’s Bedouin population, including one that details a day in the life of a Bedouin boy named Ta’amar. In the clip, Ta’amar and his father prepare coffee in their tent, and the boy proudly introduces viewers to his garden and his grandfather, Naser.

“I love taking walks with my grandfather in the field. He explains a lot about the land and the trees,” Ta’amar says.

Channel Hop! Executive Director Alona Abt says that Rechov Sumsum presents children with a reality as many parents aspire for it to be. She describes the show’s role as “placing a mirror in front of ourselves,” and “emphasizing within it the potential of what we wish for our children to enjoy.

“You may look at it as a ‘crooked’ sort of mirror, which shows children hope, presenting the way life could be when you can believe in yourself and in others, when you can trust the other and expect him to trust in you, when you can plan ahead and believe that dreams can come true – when you can grow up and be happy.

”None of this is trivial these days,” Abt says.

Funding Partners
Alan B. Slifka Foundation
Bernard van Leer Foundation
Charles H. Revson Foundation
Cheryl and Fred Halpern
The Double H Foundation
Fohs Foundation
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
Gruss Lipper Family Foundation
Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds
L.A.W. Foundation
Morris Family Foundation
Righteous Persons Foundation
Silverweed Foundation

Production Partners
Channel Hop!

Broadcasters
Channel Hop!