Not since Shalom Sesame’s very special, very memorable Hanukah episode has Sesame Street excited us so. Today, one of the greatest days of all, we get to watch “Homelamb,” Sesame Street’s parody of our favorite show, Homeland. There are so many sheep puns that we’re announcing the suspension of our usual Bovidae coverage.

Even as a lamb, Carrie Mathison can’t get enough of Special Sheep Agent Nicholas Ba-a-a-a-rody, a wolf in sheep’s clothing (you’ll see). Watch, enjoy, and we’ll be ba-a-a-ck (not sorry) shortly with Alexis Gutter’s recap of the real Homeland.

(Still image from YouTube)

The post ‘Sesame Street’ Does ‘Homeland’ appeared first on Jewcy.

• “The Americans said that if there was embarrassment, it was important for Israel to know that this was not their intention.”  The countdown begins for the next set of Wikileak documents.

• The Daily Beast says “So Long, Ahmadinejad.”

• Jerry Seinfeld: Crasher of comedy shows.

• Is Cookie Monster the next Betty White?  We really hope so.

The post Daily Jewce Black Friday Edition: New Wikileaks, Ahmadinejad On His Way Out?, Cookie Monster And More appeared first on Jewcy.

Ask a Jewish kid who grew up in the ’80s for their favorite examples of Jewish popular culture from that era and you’re certain to encounter fond memories of Muppets with a penchant for Hebrew, Jewish holidays and gloriously bad puns. Often they’ll give you just two words: “Moishe Oofnik!”

Your likely trigenarian would of course be referring to Oscar the Grouch’s Israeli cousin and the best-selling Jewish video series of all time, Shalom Sesame. Shot in 1986, and then again in 1990, the Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) production combined segments from the classic Sesame Street with those of its Hebrew-language counterpart, Rechov Sumsum, mingling elements of Jewish and secular culture for American Jewish audiences.

Now, just in time for the prior generations’ viewers to share it with their own children, Shalom Sesame has returned for the first time in twenty years with a DVD collection slated for release this Hanukah. The new series follows our familiar friend Grover to Israel, where he joins the cast of Rechov Sumsum, as well as Jewish celebrities like Jake & Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ben Stiller, Natalie Portman and Matisyahu, in learning about Jewish and Israeli culture.

Of course no introduction to Jewish culture would be complete without a lesson in the value of repairing the world. In the episode “Mitzvah On the Street,” a storm makes a mess of Sumsum Street, creating an opportunity for the Shalom Sesame characters to help their friend Avigail learn about mitzvot like “helping each other out” and “taking care of what’s important to us.” Together, they sing and learn about engaging in tikkun olam, repairing the world, or as Avigail says: “We help the world when we help someone do what they can to make things right.”

That’s pretty good for a three year-old purple monster!

You can learn more about the series at the Muppet Wiki or pre-order now on DVD.

The post You’re Never Too Old To Watch Shalom Sesame’s “Tikkun Olam Song” appeared first on Jewcy.

Recently, I heard whispers of a new production of Shalom Sesame, the 1980’s series that introduced countless American kids to Kippy ben Kipod, “Rubber Duckie” overdubbed in Hebrew as “Barvazani,” and a pre-SATC Sarah Jessica Parker.  Jews and Muppets, together again!  My dream of working with Ernie–first crushed by a visit to a depressed Greenwich Village puppeteer as a teenager–would finally come true!

Try as I might, though, I was not able to convince Sesame Workshop that the scene their new series needed most was Balkan Beat Box dancing in front of Hooper’s Store.  I guess a beat boxing grouch was enough for them.

All that said, the first 2 DVDs from the ambitious new series have just been released (our friends at Tablet had a sneak peak of an animated clip about Talmudic scholars Hillel & Shammai) and along with them, a round of exceptionally awesome Jewy tshirts.  The shirts feature Grover, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Zoe, and Oscar.

Jews: we like to claim what’s ours and now that Grover is a Super Mensch, we can proudly call him a member of the tribe. Our friends at Modern Tribe have a some of the designs, but Super Mensch seems to only be available direct from the source.

The post Grover’s Jewish Backround Exposed On New Shalom Sesame Shirts appeared first on Jewcy.