Moishe Oofnik

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, first appearing in the show's second season. 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 went on to feature as Elmo's co-star in Tochnit Ha'Eiruach Shel Elmo in 2022.
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. In the Shalom Sesame episode "Jerusalem", Moishe has a pet fly (zevuv in Hebrew) named Zevi.
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: 
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.Northern California Jewish Bulletin Vol. 139. 1990.
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."
File:Oofnik.jpg
File:MoisheOofnik.JPG
File:OofniktheGrouch.jpg
File:MosheOofnikinSesameStreetStaysUpLate.jpg|Oofnik reporting from Sesame Street Stays Up Late
File:Moishe oofnik animated.JPG
==Book appearances==
*Sesame Street Stays Up Late (1994)
*The Story of Passover (1994)
*I is for Imagination (2013, miscolored as yellow)
*Grover and Big Bird's Passover Celebration (2013)
*A Seder for Grover (2019)
==See also==
*Grouch Gallery
==Sources==
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Category:International Sesame Street Characters
Category:Muppet Characters
Category:Grouches
Category:Shalom Sesame Characters
Category:Rechov Sumsum Characters