In a recent LA Times article, writer Geoff Boucher sat down with our favorite vulcan Leonard Nimoy.  In the interview they discuss the new film 'Star Trek', Leonard's early years in Hollywood, his past experiences with Star Trek, and the origins of the Vulcan Salute.

“This is the first and only time I ever had a filmmaker say, ‘We cannot make this film without you and we won’t make it without you,’” Nimoy said with another one of those startling smiles. “J.J. Abrams said that – that’s a pretty heavy statement. And when you see the film you see how central the character is to the story they’ve told.”

Nimoy stands as “the figure of credibility” for the franchise, as Orci put it, which sounds like an unintended ding on William Shatner, the original Kirk and an actor who publicly lobbied for a role in this new $140 million film. Nimoy and Shatner remain good friends after all these years and one reason is an understanding of the benefits of selective silence.

Origins of the Vulcan Salute

“A group of men at this particular synagogue, the kohen, members of a priestly tribe, stood up in front of the congregation to bless everyone,” Nimoy remembered. “They were very loud, ecstatic, almost like at a revival meeting, and they were shouting this prayer in Hebrew, ‘May the Lord bless and keep you…’ but I have no idea at the time what they’re saying. My father said ‘Don’t look’ and everybody’s got their heads covered with their prayer shawls or their hands over their eyes. And I see these guys with their heads covered with their shawls but out from underneath they have their hands up. It was chilling, spooky and cool.”

Their hands, of course, were stretched out in the gesture that would be the Vulcan salute. “It’s the shape of the letter Shin in Hebrew, which is the first letter in the word Shaddai, a word for God, and shalom, the word for peace. It came back to me years later when he made a “Star Trek” episode ‘Amok Time’ when Spock returns to his home planet for the first time and we see him interact with Vulcans.” (source LA Times)

Read the full article here.