From the Archives: We come in “shalom”
by Mary - December 18, 2006 - 12:27 PM

We’ve been enjoying this “archival tidbit” thing a lot. (Less work for us! More facts for you! It’s a win-win.) So this week, and this week only, you’ll be getting not one but TWO factlets drawn from our books and back issues. Today’s first archival tidbit comes from What’s the Difference?

The split-fingered Vulcan salute from Star Trek is actually derived from an Orthodox Jewish ritual, the Blessing Hands used to anoint congregations on holy days. Star Trek icon Leonard Nimoy, who was raised in the Orthodox tradition, adapted the hand gesture for his role as Mr. Spock.

« Previous Post   -   Next Post »
Click here to get a Risk-Free issue of mental_floss magazine
Comments (3)

  1. Actually, the hand gesture originally comes from the Cohanim (priests) in the time of the Second Temple, particularly the Cohen Gadol (High Priest). He would use this gesture to bless to Israelites. Today, most Orthodox synagogues have the blessing of the Cohanim every Shabbat, so they use the hand gesture each week; most other synagogues, like Conservative and Traditional, only have the blessing of the Cohanim on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

    posted by Abi on 12-18-2006 at 1:43 pm

  2. Actually, the hand gesture originally comes from the Cohanim (priests) in the time of the Second Temple, particularly the Cohen Gadol (High Priest). He would use this gesture to bless the Israelites. Today, most Orthodox synagogues do the blessing of the Cohanim every Shabbat, so they use the hand gesture each week; most other synagogues, like Conservative and Traditional, only have the blessing of the Cohanim on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

    posted by Abi on 12-18-2006 at 1:44 pm

  3. Actually the orthodox in Israel do it every day. Outside of Israel they do it on Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Succoth, Passover and Shavuot. They do not do it every Shabbat.

    posted by Stew on 12-19-2006 at 3:07 pm

Comment

commenting policy