In several episodes of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, we learn a surprising thing about the Vulcans . . . a thing which, it turns out, has very strong Jewish-history connections.
It turns out that, over the centuries immediately preceding Vulcan's first contact with Earth, Vulcan culture and politics had drifted somewhat away from the precepts and practices of Surak, creating a more militarized, more authoritarian, and even rather repressive government: the Vulcan High Command.
Among other activities, the Vulcan High Command tries to abolish the practice of the Vulcan mind-meld, and persecutes (even kills) those Vulcans who teach and use this practice, so that very few Vulcan mind-meld practitioners survive.
Besides banning the mind-meld and trying to exterminate its practitioners, the Vulcan High Command also tried to exterminate one group of Vulcans (the Syrranites) because the Syrranites wanted to recover the original writings of Surak, which had disappeared over the centuries.
At the time that STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE opens, Surak's teachings exist only in the form of copies-of-copies-of-copies-of-copies made over many generations, and known or suspected to have accumulated mistakes.
Sometime during STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, the Syrranite leader T'Pau (yes, the same priestess T'Pau who much later will officiate at Spock's wedding) and Captain Jonathan Archer discover the original writings of Surak, hidden within a sacred Vulcan artifact. They establish the authenticity of the item, they study it, and thereby they verify beyond doubt that the persecuted Syrranites had had it right all along.
The Vulcans over the centuries really HAD forgotten/suppressed/drifted away from many of Surak's original teachings. This discovery forces some major re-thinking and re-decision at all levels of Vulcan society, up to and including the highest levels of Vulcan government and society, which restructures Vulcan culture so as to follow the rediscovered teachings once again.
In other words, Vulcan undergoes a sort of planet-wide t'shuvah.
T'shuva is a Hebrew word which means, to return. I don't know the Vulcan word for, return.
This theme in STAR TREK:ENTERPRISE very closely resembles what the Bible describes as happening in the Kingdom of Judah during the reign of King Josiah.
In King Josiah's time, priests renovating the Temple discover a copy of the centuries-lost "Book of the Law" (either Deuteronomy or the entire Torah, depending on whether you believe non-Orthodox or Orthodox commentators). Josiah and others read this scroll, and thereby they learn how far the Jews had departed from the commandments and original teachings of the Torah.
With the support of a prophetess named Huldah (who verifies for the King the authenticity of the rediscovered text), Josiah and other top-ranking people make major changes in the nation's way of life, eliminating idolatry, for instance: in order to follow these rediscovered teachings.
Note also that, earlier in the Bible, between the time that the Kingdom of Judah began and the time that the lost scroll resurfaced, many of the kings of Judah had persecuted and even killed the prophets who pointed out that the nation had departed from the Torah's teachings.
THE BIBLE -- STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE
Kings of Judah - Vulcan High Command
King Josiah - Captain Jonathan Archer
Both people in authority, one a king, one a captain, both names start with "J" if that matters.
Moses - Surak
Both were great leaders who laid down the original foundations and teachings of their cultures.
The persecuted Hebrew Prophets of Israel - The persecuted Syrranite Prophets of Vulcan
Both groups oppose a society that no longer has or follows its founder's original teachings.
The Hebrew Prophetess Huldah - The Vulcan Priestess T'Pau
Women in leadership roles, whose influence leads their societies to follow the rediscovered teachings.
WOW! I THINK ALL THIS STUFF IS REALLY COOL!!!
There are so many Jewish themes in Star Trek!
Here is some more really cool and interesting stuff!!!
THE VULCAN HAND SALUTE - Live Long And Prosper!
Here is an interesting web site at: http://www.upstel.net/rooster/v-salute.html
This is really cool and like, totally awesome!!!The Jewish Origin of the Vulcan Salute
Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
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.
and
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...
(excepted from the work-in-progress, Jewish Themes in Star Trek by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom. (c) Copyright 2004 by Yonassan Gershom. All rights reserved.)
Visit Trekjews.com for more info...
http://www.upstel.net/rooster/trekjews.html
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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 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."
The Leonard Nimoy page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Nimoy
wikipedia.org,
http://www.wikipedia.org/
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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!
To to go directly to their Blessing Hands jewelry page:
http://www.dorldor.com/NewJewel%20asset ... _index.htm
Visit the Trekjews.com homepage
http://www.upstel.net/rooster/trekjews.html
Links to more Jewish Star Trek sites
http://www.upstel.net/rooster/treklink.html
Visit Rabbi Gershom's homepage
http://www.upstel.net/rooster/index.html
List of Star Trek novels with (maybe) Jewish characters...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redir ... av.lm_more
DISCLAIMER NOTE: "Star Trek" and related terms are a registered trademark owned by Paramount Studios. This site is not intended as an infringement on Paramount's copyright. The book, Jewish Themes in Star Trek falls into the legal category of "fair usage" as academic discussion and literary criticism. The rest of the TrekJews.com site is in the same category, and is posted here free for the use of fans and literary researchers.
I will be posting more about Jewish themes on Star Trek.
So, yo'all keep coming back!
Live long and prosper, and . . . . . . .
Shalom!
I'm fat and sassy! I love to sing & dance & stomp my feet & really rock your world!
