Editing HaGashash HaHiver

{{Short description|Israeli comedy trio}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = HaGashash HaHiver
| native_name     = הגשש החיוור
| native_name_lang = he
| image           = File:הגשש החיוור.jpg
| alt             = 
| caption         = Right to left: [[Gavri Banai|Gavriel "Gavri" Banai]], [[Yeshayahu Levi]] ("Shaike"), [[Yisrael Poliakov]] ("Poli")
| origin          = {{flag|Israel}}
| genre           = Comedy
| years_active    = 1960s–2007
| associated_acts = HaTarnegolim
| module          = {{Infobox company
| embed           = yes
| logo            = File:Hagashash of Israel Logo.svg
| logo_alt        = 
}}
}}
[[File:הגשש החיוור בעת הקלטה לטלוויזיה.jpg|thumb|250px|right to left: "Poli", "Shaike", "Gavri"]]
'''HaGashash HaHiver''' ({{langx|he|הגשש החיוור}}, ''lit.'' The Pale [[Tracker (occupation)|Tracker]]) was an iconic [[Israel]]i comedy trio. It was also known as the ''Gashashim.'' Its three members were [[Yeshayahu Levi]] ("Shaike"), [[Yisrael Poliakov]] ("Poli") (deceased) and [[Gavri Banai|Gavriel "Gavri" Banai]].

==History==
Shaike, Poli and Gavri had been members of ''[[HaTarnegolim]]''" ("The Roosters"), founded in 1960 by [[Naomi Polani]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B9RV5UFtPNMC&dq=peloni&pg=PA513 |title=The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Europe |year=1999 |author=Don Rubin |isbn=9780415251570 |accessdate=July 31, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kAxLAn6sOb4C&dq=Naomi+Polani&pg=PA111 |title=Popular music and national culture in Israel |year= 2004|author= Motti Regev, Edwin Seroussi |isbn=9780520936881 |accessdate=July 31, 2011}}</ref><ref name="pqarchiver1999">{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/42396744.html?dids=42396744:42396744&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+13%2C+1999&author=Ury+Eppstein%2C+Michael+Ajzenstadt&pub=Jerusalem+Post&desc=These+chicks+have+got+to+grow&pqatl=google |title=These chicks have got to grow |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=June 13, 1999 |author=Ury Eppstein, Michael Ajzenstadt |accessdate=July 31, 2011 |archive-date=August 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813143658/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/doc/319247706.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun%2013,%201999&author=Ury%20Eppstein,%20Michael%20Ajzenstadt&pub=Jerusalem%20Post&edition=&startpage=&desc=These%20chicks%20have%20got%20to%20grow |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Gashashim put on many comedy skits which became classics in their own right ("The Drafted Car", "Off Side Story", "Kreker vs Kreker", etc.) and contributed numerous quotes to modern spoken Hebrew. They also starred in comic Israeli movies which became major hits, such as ''[[Givat Halfon Eina Ona]]'' and recorded many famous Hebrew songs.<ref>[http://www.shiron.net/artist?type=works&lang=1&prfid=1096 Lyrics of songs performed by the Trackers] at [[Shiron.net]]</ref> Some of Israel's greatest authors and playwrights, including the late [[Nisim Aloni]], prepared material for the trio. The producer of HaGashash HaHiver was {{ill|Avraham Deshe|he|אברהם דשא (פשנל)}} ("Pachanel").

The Gashash' sketches transcended class and education. Their elaborate word play became known as ''Gashashit''.

On October 29, 2007, Yisrael Poliakov died at age 66.<ref name=jp/>

==Awards and recognition==
In 2000, HaGashash HaHiver and its three members were awarded the [[Israel Prize]] for lifetime achievement & special contribution to society and the State of Israel.<ref name=jp>{{cite news|title=Comic icon Yisrael 'Poli' Poliakov dies at 66|url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380690668&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull|work=[[Jerusalem Post]]|date=October 30, 2007|accessdate=November 10, 2007}}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>[http://www.jafi.org.il/agenda/english/index17.asp Jafi.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031005020629/http://www.jafi.org.il/agenda/english/index17.asp |date=2003-10-05 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| title = Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Recipients' C.V. | url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashas/Hagashas/KorotHayimGashash.htm}}</ref>

The [[Adjudicator|judge]]s who awarded the prize, wrote of their decision to bestow the award on the group: "''The uniqueness of Hagashash Hahiver is in its two faces: On the one hand, it reflects the life and the culture that were created in Israel during its first 50 years and in the course of wars, immigration absorption and the struggle for its existence. On the other hand, it has taken an active role in shaping this culture, creating its language and sketching its identity...Their language, Gashashit, and the images they created broke the walls of the inflexible Hebrew language and became standard idiomatic phrases, so much so that he who doesn't know them doesn't know a large part of the culture that has sprouted here. Phrases such as, 'Drive in peace, the keys are inside,' 'There was an engine?' [referring to the "Drafted Car" skit where the army returns a requisitioned car without any of its original parts], 'Israbluff' and many others that became part of our everyday language.''"<ref name=jp/><ref>{{Cite web| title = Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Judges' Rationale for Grant to Recipients | url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashas/Hagashas/NimukeiAshoftimGashash.htm}}</ref>

==Cultural significance==
The group has been repeatedly cited as helping to form a part of the cultural self-identity of many Israelis. Israeli sociologist and scholar [[Baruch Kimmerling]] called the group "more significant for me than Shakespeare" in terms of this.<ref name="Kimmerling2012">{{cite book|author=Baruch Kimmerling|title=Marginal at the Center|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAUSTf1OrnMC&pg=PA46|year=2012|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-0-85745-720-2|pages=46–}}</ref> "They pushed the boundary of surrealism in a language that had been dead for a couple thousand years," said [[Stand Up! Records]] founder [[Dan Schlissel]], a fan of the group.<ref name="TPT2019">{{Cite episode |title=The Art of the Laugh with Stand Up! Records and Dan Schlissel |url= https://www.tptoriginals.org/the-art-of-the-laugh-with-stand-up-records-and-dan-schlissel/ |access-date=2020-02-20 |series=TPT Originals |first=David |last=Roth |network=PBS |station=Twin Cities PBS |date=2019 |time= :38 }}</ref> In her book ''No Joke: Making Jewish Humor'', [[Yiddish literature]] scholar [[Ruth Wisse]] stated that "if I ask an assortment of Israelis, 'what comes to mind when I say, Israeli humor?' almost everyone answers 'HaGashash HaHiver.'"<ref name="Wisse2013">{{cite book|author=Ruth R. Wisse|title=No Joke: Making Jewish Humor|url=https://archive.org/details/nojokemakingjewi0000wiss|url-access=registration|date=21 May 2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4634-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nojokemakingjewi0000wiss/page/n215 200]–}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagashash Hahiver}}
[[Category:Israel Prize recipients that are organizations]]
[[Category:Israel Prize for lifetime achievement & special contribution to society recipients]]
[[Category:Israeli comedy troupes]]
[[Category:Comedy trios]]