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by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
(This material is excerpted from Chapter
Four of Jewish Themes in Star Trek by Yonassan Gershom. Copyright 2004 by
Yonassan Gershom. All rights reserved.)
...We come now to the most famous Jewish influence on Vulcan culture, the
"live long and prosper" hand gesture. This "Vulcan salute, " as it has
come to be called, was invented on the set by Leonard Nimoy during the
filming of the second-season opener, "Amok Time." In this episode, Spock
goes into something like a male estrus cycle, called pon farr in the
Vulcan language. Comparing himself to a salmon swimming upstream to spawn,
Spock tells Kirk that he must return to Vulcan to mate with his betrothed
bride, T'Pring, or die trying. The wedding ceremony would be the first
glimpse of Spock's homeworld in the series.
Nimoy felt that there should be some kind of distinctive
greeting among Vulcans, analogous to a handshake or a bow. Alan Dean
Foster's novelization, based on an early script, has Spock kneeling before
the Vulcan matriarch, T'Pau, who places her hands on his shoulders, like
royalty dubbing a knight. But Nimoy didn't care for this. Previous
episodes had already established that Vulcans are touch telepaths.
Therefore, a touch on the shoulders would be an invasion of privacy.
Instead, Nimoy drew upon his own Jewish background to suggest the
now-familiar salute. Back in the 1960s, hippies who watched "Amok Time"
thought the salute was a variation of the two-fingered peace sign. But we
Jews knew better. The Vulcan salute came not from protest marches, but
from the pulpit of Nimoy's childhood synagogue.
The Vulcan greeting is based upon a blessing gesture used by the
kohanim (koe-hah-NEEM) during the worship service. The kohanim are the
genealogical descendants of the Jewish priests who served in the Jerusalem
Temple. Modern Jews no longer have priests leading services as in ancient
times, nor do we have animal sacrifices anymore. (Yes, people really do
ask about that!) The sacrificial system ended with the destruction of
the Temple by the Romans in the year 70. C.E. However, a remnant of the
Temple service lives on in the "kohane blessing" ritual (duchenen in
Yiddish) that is performed on certain holy days.
The actual blessing is done with both arms held
horizontally in front, at shoulder level, with hands touching, to form the
Hebrew letter "shin." This stands for the Hebrew word for "Shaddai",
meaning "Almighty [God]." Nimoy modified this gesture into one hand
held upright, making it more like a salute. So, technically, the Vulcan
greeting is not the same thing as the ceremonial Jewish blessing. Still,
the resemblance is close enough to evoke instant recognition among
knowledgeable Jews.
During the synagogue service, the worshippers are not
supposed to look at the kohanim while the blessing is being given. The
reason for this is to focus our attention on the words of the prayer
itself, rather than on the personalities of the kohanim. The kohanim are
merely the channels, not the source, of the blessing, which comes from
God. Unfortunately, all sorts of silly superstitions have arisen about
this ritual, such as "Don't look at the kohanim, or you'll go blind!" and
other nonsense. The real reason is simply to focus on receiving blessings
directly from God, not from human beings.
Like most Jewish children, young Leonard Nimoy could not
contain his curiosity about what the kohanim were really doing up there in
front of the congregation. He writes:
"The special moment when the Kohanim blessed the assembly moved me
deeply, for it possessed a great sense of magic and theatricality... I had
heard that this indwelling Spirit of God was too powerful, too beautiful,
too awesome for any mortal to look upon and survive, and so I obediently
covered my face with my hands. But of course, I had to peek." (From his
autobiography, I am Spock.)
Leonard survived his peeking unscathed, and saw the kohanim extending
their fingers in the mystical "shin" gesture. That magical moment remained
with him for life, and was there to draw upon years later, when he
invented the Vulcan salute.
Did Gene Roddenberry know, at the time of filming, that the Vulcan salute
was based on a Jewish ritual? That question remains unanswered. My sense
is that he probably didn't, or he would have objected to it, on the
grounds of its being too "Judeo-Christian." More likely, he thought it was
a weird variation of the peace sign. Certainly, that's how gentile
Trekkers saw it for many years. Only much later did Nimoy publicly explain
the source of his inspiration.
We should also note that the prohibition against peeking only applies
during the actual blessing ritual. The gesture itself is nothing secret.
You can see it openly displayed in books and on amulets, jewelry, wall
decorations, and gravestones. Contrary to urban legend, Nimoy was not
violating any Jewish taboos by using this gesture on Star Trek, especially
since he modified it from the original version. I, for one, think it's
absolutely wonderful that something so authentically Jewish has become
universally recognized as a greeting of peace. More than anything else
in Trekdom, the Vulcan salute says to me, "Here there be Jews." It
also provides a diplomatic way for me to greet female Trekkers at
conventions without shaking hands. (Orthodox Jews
do not shake hands with the opposite sex. I suppose that would also hold
true for intersexed alien species.)
On the practical end, the ability to make the salute is a
bit tricky. Some say it's hereditary, like double-jointedness. (I myself
can do it easily.) According to Nimoy's own account, He spent hours
practicing it after he saw it in the synagogue. When the time came to use
the Vulcan salute on the studio set, there it was, perfectly executed
without a hitch. But actress Celia Lovsky, who played T'Pau, had
difficulty making the sign. She had to set her fingers in place first,
before the cameras rolled, and could only hold it briefly. In later
episodes and movies, the irascible Doctor McCoy makes numerous wisecracks
about "breaking his fingers" trying give the Vulcan greeting.
In addition to the salute itself, the ceremonial use of "Live long and
prosper" and it's lesser-known reply, "Peace and long life," also show a
strong Jewish influence. The format is similar to a traditional greeting
in Hebrew: "Shalom aleichem" (peace be upon you) and the answer, "Aleichem
shalom" (upon you be peace.) Muslims have a
similar greeting in Arabic. Once again, we can see a strong parallel
between Vulcan and Middle Eastern cultures. In
the next chapter, we will further explore how Orthodox Judaism was used by
Nimoy as the template for developing his vision of Vulcan society...
Additional notes: Although Leonard Nimoy drew a lot of his inspiration for
the Vulcan culture from Judaism, he is not himself an Orthodox Jew. His
grandfather was Orthodox and took him to the synagogue when he was young.
Little Leonard was impressed by the ritual, and today he has a strong
connection with his Jewish identity. He has done a lot of Jewish theater
projects and narrated several Jewish educational music programs and and
video documentaries. However, his own lifestyle is not Orthodox, even
though quite a few Star Trek sites mis-identify him as such. The Leonard
Nimoy page on the free encyclopedia site, wikipedia.org, says that he is
"an adherant of Reform Judaism."
Attention Jewish Trekkers: Check out this "Shalom Hand"
jewelry in a variety of styles (necklaces, pins, tie clips, etc.)
exclusive original design from Dor L'Dor, (from generation to generation),
an educational resource center which creates learning materials for
special needs Jewish children. Their Shalom Hand design not only is like
the Vulcan salute, it also spells out "Shalom" (peace) in Hebrew letters.
And it comes in either left or right hand versions! Click here to go
directly to their Blessing Hands jewelry page
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