The real Mt. Sinai is over in Saudi Arabia, just as Paul said. See the blackened, burned peak, the split rock which Moses struck, and the altar which the golden calf was placed.
For all the STAR TREK fans out there (Scotty boy & co.)... the origin of the Vulcan salute is a symbol of the rock split by God on Mt. Sinai.
Live Long & Prosper, my friends. 
![[Rabbi Gershom making the Vulcan Salute]](http://upstel.net/~rooster/trekjews/trekreb6.jpg)
The Jewish Origin of the Vulcan Salute
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. Posted here with the author's permission.)
...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.
![[Spock giving the Vulcan Salute]](http://upstel.net/~rooster/trekjews/spock1.jpg)
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.
![[Hebrew letter SHIN]](http://upstel.net/~rooster/trekjews/shin.gif)
![[hand and SHIN letter]](http://upstel.net/~rooster/trekjews/shin3.jpg)
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.
![[position of the hands for the blessing]](http://upstel.net/~rooster/trekjews/hands3.jpg)
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.)
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...
![[the blessing hands as jewelery]](http://upstel.net/~rooster/trekjews/shalomhands2.jpg)
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."
“Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes.” — Song of Solomon 1:15
“You will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, And her feathers with yellow gold.” — Psalm 68:13
“O that I had wings like a dove then I would fly away and be at rest.”
“You will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, And her feathers with yellow gold.” — Psalm 68:13
“O that I had wings like a dove then I would fly away and be at rest.”
