"A Diaspora Character if ever there was one"

[eumelia]

The origins of Spock as the "Other", the "Outsider" and the Vulcan salute:

Click to view

As an agnosto-atheist, the whole idea of the essence of god thing doesn't really do it for me.
However, I come from a family of Kohanim (the Priest tribe of the Jewish people) and the one time a year I do attend shul (synagogue) it's to hear and sing "Kol Nidrei" and to

Comments

[saturn92103]

Thanks for posting this!

[eumelia]

This comm should really be more active than it is.

[myuglyone]

I also wanted to say thank-you so much for posting this. Although I knew of the Jewish elements to vulcans in a general way, it's so wonderful to hear Mr Nimoy tell us this story! Even just seeing someone so famous and important to 20th century western culture (or at least, to my current fandom interests) being so openly *Jewish* is a rare and precious thing. I gasped when he put on the tallis. Wow, great stuff!

[eumelia]

I kind of squeed when he put the tallis as well, 'cause I was like - Mr. Nimoy is like my Dad!!! I always thought they kind of looked alike, but then again it's just the (big Aquiline/Jewish) nose that's similar.

[caerfrli]

If you want to stay connected to Jewish culture with a minimum of god you might consider a reconstructionist congregation.

[eumelia]

I'm Israeli and currently living in Israel, so it's both redundant and impossible, as there are no Recon congregations in Israel at the moment.
If I ever do live outside of Israel that is certainly an option I'd look into.

[iahnhiatm]

You might want to consider the fledgling Masorti movement in Israel http://www.masorti.org/.

I'm an American that visited Israel recently back in November and really enjoyed the services at Moreshet Yisrael on Agron Street in Jerusalem. They have a wonderful woman cantor that just blew us all away. Her name is Ahuva Batz and here's her website fyi: http://ahuvabatz.com/Site/Welcome.html

[eumelia]

I'm an Israeli born and bred, lived here my whole life and am actually not interested in being part of a religious community.

In addition, if you read what I wrote, you'll find that my family is part of a Conservative Shul (i.e. the Masorati movement). And so have been a part of that movement my whole life as well. Until I stopped going as a teenager.

So really, thanks, but there's no need.

[vilakins]

I vaguely heard about that ages ago, but it's so cool seeing Nimoy telling the story. I was intrigued that he had to learn the gesture, as did T'Pau; I've always been able to do it. OK, now I can tell my husband he can learn to do it since Nimoy did. :-)