[LUTE] (Spock and the Birkat Kohanim) tune the tuna

[howard posner]

Leonard Nimoy did indeed take the "live long and prosper" hand  
position from the Birkat Kohanim ("Blessing of the Priests")  
traditionally said over the congregation by the "priests" (which is  
to say, men descended from priests, the Jewish priesthood having been  
otherwise unemployed since the Second Temple was destroyed two  
milennia ago) and --less traditionally, I believe -- said (without  
the hand position) by parents in the home on Friday nights as part of  
the blessing of the children.  The curious can look at the hand  
position on the web, e.g.:

http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsbirkat.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priestly_Blessing

Like a lot of Jewish ritual, there are differing accounts of what it  
means.  Some say the hand position represents the letter shin, for  
"Shaddai," one of the names of God.  There are other explanations:

http://judaism.about.com/od/shabbatprayersblessings/f/bless_kohanim.htm

I have never been able to get my fingers into that position, but I'm  
not a kohen, so it doesn't matter.



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