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A Vulcan salute

The Vulcan salute is a hand gesture, devised by Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played the half-Vulcan Spock on Star Trek, which consists of a raised hand, palm forward with the fingers parted between the middle and ring finger. The salute first appeared on the original Star Trek series in the second season opening episode, "Amok Time". The gesture is famously difficult for most people to do without practice, and actors on the original show reportedly would often have to position their fingers off-screen, manually, using both hands, before raising their hand into frame.

In his autobiography, I Am Not Spock, Nimoy has said that he based it on the Priestly Blessing performed by Jewish Kohanim with both hands, thumb to thumb in this same position, representing the Hebrew letter Shin (ש), which has three upward strokes similar to the position of the thumb and fingers in the salute. The letter Shin here stands for Shaddai, meaning "Almighty (God)" and has a special significance in Judaism.

Also in I Am Not Spock, Nimoy explains how, when he was a child, his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue. There he saw the blessing performed, and was very impressed by it.

Nimoy also coined the accompanying spoken blessing, "Live long and prosper" (Dup dor a'az Mubster in Vulcan language as spoken in Star Trek: The Motion Picture). The less-known preceding salutation is "Peace and long life." This format is similar to (and probably based upon) the Hebrew greeting, "Shalom aleichem" (peace be upon you) and its reply, "Aleichem shalom" (upon you be peace).

• In the 1978 series Mork & Mindy, the Vulcan salute was spoofed whenever the main character, Mork (played by Robin Williams), would open and close his fingers in rapid succession while saying "Nanu nanu," the character's catchphrase.

• The gesture features in Weird Al Yankovic's "White and Nerdy" music video.

• It appears in an episode of The Colbert Report: in the segment "Word of the Day", after Stephen Colbert drapes a gold necklace saying "Word", in reference to a slang word for agreement, he makes the gesture with both hands, as if he were flashing a gang sign.

• The salute appears in the 2004 movie The Terminal, as an acceptance of a marriage proposal.

• It is a feature of Star Trak Entertainment, a hip hop record label founded by Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams.

• The gesture is shown to be a greeting frequently used by Hiro Nakamura, a character on the NBC science fiction drama Heroes.

• It also appears in episode Fear Her of the British sci-fi show Doctor Who.

• Vulcan salute article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
• The Jewish Origin of the Vulcan Salute -- a very complete page by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom, with photos and diagrams of how the Salute forms the Hebrew letter Shin, the use of the Blessing Hands gesture on Jewish gravestones and jewelry, etc.