As Israeli as Mom and Falafel

One of my most loyal customers has ordered a Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) cake for a neighbourhood party every year for the last 6 or 7 years. The first year was a breeze. We decided on the Israel national emblem – menorah, olive branches – simple, elegant. Over the next few years, we covered the flag, falafel, Ben Gurion, newspaper headlines from 1948, a barbecue, even a model of Jerusalem. What was left? I suggested maybe she should invite different guests this year and we could start over, but no dice.

Then it struck me. What is more Israeli than Srulik?

Srulik, for the uninitiated, is the quintessential symbol of the Israeli sabra, although he was the brainchild of a Hungarian Holocaust survivor named Kariel Gardosh who made Aliya in 1948. Familiar to every Israeli, Srulik, with his distinctive cowlick, shorts and sandals (or in times of war, army boots) and a canvas kibbutznik hat, represented the sabra of the 1960s and 70s. First appearing in the newspaper Maariv in 1956, Srulik allowed Dosh (as Gardosh came to be known) to comment on the issues of the day and to take a comic and occasionally painfully satiric view of the tribulations of Israeli life. He became such an icon that he appeared on postage stamps and government posters, as recognizable to Israelis as Uncle Sam is to Americans. He appeared in Maariv until Dosh’s death in March 2000.

Here he is in all his sugary glory, grinning ear to ear, gracing the cover of a teudat zehut, (the Israeli ID certificate that every citizen must carry around at all times, and will invariably be caught without the one time s/he jay-walks – a federal offense in this country, since drivers don’t actually stop for pedestrians… but enough negativity – it’s Israel Independence Day!)

I fudged a little on his birth date to suit the occasion, and the printing could be a little neater, but that’s actually authentic! In the early days of the State apparently identity cards were all printed by hand (OK, I just made that part up. What can I say, penmanship is not my forte).

Now if I could only come up with another idea for next year…..