To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Teresa Neumann : Jun 2, 2011  Adelle M. Banks - Religion News Service

He also explains how being Jewish helped him relate to his half-human/half-Vulcan character.

(Rockville, MD)—Star Trek fans will be interested to know that actor Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock in the original television series, has revealed that the origin of the "live long and prosper" Vulcan sign—made by separating the digits of one hand into a sort of "V"—lies in his Jewish childhood.

"I reached back to my early years as a child when I was sitting in a synagogue in Boston with my family at the High Holidays," said Nimoy recently at B'nai Israel Congregation in Rockville. (Photo: Paramount Television)

According to a report published in the Charlotte Observer, "Before the sold-out audience in suburban Washington, the 80-year-old actor re-enacted the blessing Jewish leaders recited at that Orthodox service. Prayer shawl over his head, he stuck out his hands in the shape of the sign he adapted for the TV show that ran for just three seasons in the 1960s but became a pop culture phenomenon."

Nimoy was quoted as saying he later learned that it was the shape of the letter shin in the Hebrew alphabet, the first letter of "shalom," or "peace."

Nimoy also reportedly said he related to his half-human/half-Vulcan character in the series because in Boston, where he grew up, "the Jews were a minority...I knew what it was like to be the other in that culture and therefore I could bring that quality to the Spock character."

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

'Pray for Jack': Badly Injured NFL Player Trusts in God; 'My Faith in God Has Never Been Stronger'

Let's Win Our Country Back One Neighbor at a Time

9th Circuit Court Frees Idaho to Protect Unborn Babies and Mothers: 'The Constitution Does Not Confer a Right to Abortion'

White House Finalizes Policy to Lower Health Care Costs

Secretary Mullin Vows 'Deportations Will Continue' after Republicans Lose Midterm Elections

Israelis React to US Election Results: 'We're Losing a Stalwart Friend'

Good News: Even Blue States Pass Midterm's Biological-Reality Ballot Measures

Newsmax Projects Dems Win Senate, Sweep Congress

'Totally Authentic': Ancient Account of Jesus Corroborates the Gospels (Video)

Baby Saved from Abortion After Dad Drives by Pro-Life Sign, Priest Says

Greenland Parliament Ratifies Security Deal Agreement With Trump

Speaker Johnson Infuses Hope, while Citing the Challenge for Republicans in the Next Two Years

Big Night for Dems Hides These Conservatives Victories on Ballot Measures

A Great Night for Republicans in the Free State of Florida

Democrats Sweep Midterms, Seize Control of Congress in Blue Wave

Christian Pilot Who Prayed Lord's Prayer Before Fatal Florida Plane Crash Remembered for Powerful Faith

Lawsuit Filed after Dearborn Mayor Ignores Christmas, Jewish Holidays in Favor of Ramadan

President Trump: US Close to Making a Trade Deal With Canada

Maine School Official Cites Islamic Concerns in Push to Keep Dogs Out of Classrooms

The Prayer Wave This Election

Steve Shultz, Managing Editor
Founder and Owner

Aimee Herd, Editor