Leonard Nimoy created the Vulcan salute based off an unforgettable childhood experience
"Live long and prosper."
It's one of the most famous phrases in the history of entertainment, and most certainly the collection of words that comes to mind when you think of science fiction's beloved Mr. Spock.
The world lost Leonard Nimoy on Friday at the age of 83.
The character Spock was, of course, half Vulcan. And along with that famous phrase came a famous Vulcan salute.
It looks like this:
<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54f0ae6fecad04f944cb781a-1200-924/leonard-nimoy-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Leonard Nimoy">
But where did it come from? It turns out it came from Nimoy himself and has very personal origins.
He says in his autobiography that it is a priestly blessing that forms the Hebrew letter Shin.
He spoke to the Hebrew Book Center about encountering this blessing as a child: He was watching a ceremony with four or five men, and then his father told him not to look.
"<span style="color: #000000;">I hear this strange sound coming from them, they're not singers, they were shouters, and dissonant, it was all discordant," he said.</span>
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"It was chilling, like whoa! Something major is happening here. So I peeked, and I saw them with their hands stuck out."