Live long and prosper

In the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic, while churches were still holding services but were already starting to think about how to increase social distancing, we needed to find an alternative greeting to the handshake which was traditionally given while sharing the Peace, and which did not involve direct physical contact.

People had various ways of dealing with this: I gave a court bow (a bow from the neck) but my wife used the Vulcan Salute


This salute, originating in the original Star Trek TV show, was created by the actor who played the half-Vulcan Commander Spock, the late Leonard Nimoy, and associated with the words

"Live long and prosper."

In his autobiography, Nimoy wrote 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 gesture.



The letter Shin here stands for El Shaddai, meaning "Almighty God", as well as for Shekhinah and Shalom.

Nimoy wrote that when he was a child, his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue, where he saw the blessing performed and was impressed by it.

I see from this weekend's papers that the use of the Vulcan salute is beginning to take off as an alternative to the handshake. And the words "Live long and prospect" which accompany it seem to be a particularly appropriate greeting to express at the present time.

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