MDDM Ch. 50 Live Long and Prosper

[Dave Monroe]

"One day, the Meridian having been closely enough
establish'd, and with an hour or two of free time
available to them, one heads north, one south, and
'tis Dixon's luck to discover The Rabbi of Prague,
headquarters of a Kabbalistick Faith, in
correspondence with the Elect Cohens of Paris, whose
private Salute they now greet Dixon with, the Fingers
spread two and two, and the Thumb held away from them
likewise, said to represent the Hebrew letter Shin and
to signify, 'live long and prosper.'" (M&D, Ch. 50, p.
485)

Proverbs 3:1-2

1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my
commands in your heart, 
2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring
you prosperity.

http://www.ebs.hw.ac.uk/EDC/StarTrek/gifs/3spock.gif

http://www.novelenterprise.com/episTOS2/2journey2c.jpg

>From David Gerrold, The World of Star Trek (New York:
Ballantine, 1973) ...

"The salute is given with the right hand, palm facing
the person you are greeting with the fingers spread in
the middle.  The gesture is very much like the
V-for-Victory Peace Sign.  When done with both hands
close together, it is an old and esoteric Rabbinical
gesture, used in certain types of Jewish blessings. 
The congregation is supposed to cover their eyes, but
Leonard [Nimoy] used to peek.  (Theological humility
prevents me here from speculating that Vulcan was
colonized by the ten lost tribes of Israel.)"
(footnote, p. 46)

>From Jordan Lee Wagner, The Synagogue Survival Kit
(Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc., 1997) ...

"Another common decorative motif is a hand, with a
wide spread between the middle and ring fingers; or a
pair of such hands. This is the ancient handsign of
the ko-ha-nim (priests) in the Temple. The priestly
handsign is symbolic of divine immanence. The handsign
was used by the kohanim when they pronounced The
Priestly Blessing on the congregation. This ritual is
still a part of the service, and is discussed later.
This Jewish ritual has been popularized by the Star
Trek TV show, which used it as the Vulcan ritual of
greeting. The Vulcan ritual of greeting consists of
the handsign accompanied by a blessing: 'Live long and
prosper,' which is an abbreviated paraphrase of the
original Jewish blessing.  The modern Hebrew greeting
('Shalom') is a still shorter version of this
blessing. 

"Star Trek's use of the Jewish ritual is not
coincidental. Leonard Nimoy, the actor that portrayed
the original Vulcan, Mr. Spock, got his first acting
jobs in Yiddish Theater, and has been Baal Koreh
(Torah reader) at his synagogue."

"Birkat Kohanim (The Priestly Blessing) is also called
duchening, as though there were an English verb 'to
duchen'. This ritual is discussed extensively in the
section of my book describing the structure of the
Amidah. The commandment to duchen, and the text of the
blessing, is found at Numbers 6:23-27. It is done
during the repetition of the Amidah, just before Sim
Shalom. It includes ritual handwashing of the kohanim
by the levites. This is done privately after the
K'dushah and before Modim -- after the kohanim have
removed their shoes (or loosened their laces so as not
to touch their shoes again). Then the (now shoeless)
kohanim ascend the bima. There is a public benediction
by the kohanim before they perform the mitzvah, the
blessing itself, and accompanying meditations. All
kohanim (descendents of Aharon) present in the
synagogue participate in the duchening and make the
'kohanic' handsign. Their taleisim are pulled way
forward over their heads so as to cover their raised
hands. Also, the congregation often does the same, and
in any case does not look at the duchening. Ashkenazim
duchen only on major holidays, while Sephardim duchen
frequently. (Reform congregations are an exception.
They generally do not recite The Priestly Blessing.)" 

http://members.aol.com/judaism/ask/archives/qs006.htm

http://ssk.webjew.org/

The "Star Trek" Vulcan "live long and prosper" sign is
roughly one-half of the gesture the cohanim [singular
cohen] make when blessing the congregation.  You can
see it engraved on many cohen tombstones:

                  \\//_ _\\//
                   \ /   \ /

www.scjfaq.org/faq/09-01.html

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9802&msg=23898&sort=date

"Nimoy delved in to his own Jewish upbringing to
create the Vulcan hand salute, first used in the
episode 'Amok Time'. The salute is derived from that
used by the Kohanim (Hebrew priests) when blessing the
congregation while forming the letter 'shin' with
their hands."

http://www.ebs.hw.ac.uk/EDC/StarTrek/spock.html

"... I discussed my ambivalence about going to Germany
with my wife's cousin John Rosove, our rabbi at Temple
Israel in Hollywood. 'Do young German fans know that
you're a Jew?' he asked. 'Perhaps a small number,' I
replied. 'Do they know that you introduced the Vulcan
hand salute based on the letter SHIN and that it comes
from your experience watching the kohanim (the
priestly descendants of Aaron) at synagogue services?'
'Perhaps only a small number would have heard about
it,' I responded."

http://uahc.org/rjmag/999ln.html

Cf. "Mr. Spock's hand salute"  (VL, Ch. 1, p. 11)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9809&msg=30966&sort=date

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