Mem, Shin and the Vulcan Hand Salute

A local customer was looking for gifts to take to family members in the US. She learnt about my papercuts and contacted me about some Hebrew letters, ultimately ordering a letter "מ" and two letters "ש".  The pieces, backed in grey and navy blue, were very well received, my customer writing "Total success! Everyone loved their gifts! Thank you!".

I have written about the Hebrew letter מ, or Mem, before. Mem is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has the sound of "m" as in "mum".

The letter ש, or Shin (pronounced "sheen"), is the twenty-first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has the sound of "sh" as in "shy". It is shaped like a crooked English W. In gematria, which is a mystical tradition that assigns a numerological value to Hebrew letters, Shin represents the number 300.

The sole difference between the letter shin and the letter sin (pronounced "seen") is the presence or absence of a dot. If a dot appears to the upper right of the letter, pronounce "sh"; if it appears to the left, pronounce "s".

The letter Shin appears engraved on both sides of the head tefillin. On the right side, the Shin has three heads, while on the left it possesses four. The two different Shins represent the two ways the Torah was written: in stone and upon parchment.
The Shin is also the letter printed on the Mezuzah, a small box placed on the right doorpost of Jewish homes which contains a parchment scroll with verses from the Torah inscribed on it. On the Mezuzah the letter Shin stands for the word Shaddai, a name for G-d. When Jewish people leave their home, they touch the letter that represents the name of G-d and kiss their fingertips as a sign of reverence to G-d and His word.

A kohen (priest) forms the letter Shin with his hands as he recites the Priestly Blessing. In the mid-1960s, actor Leonard Nimoy used a single-handed version of this gesture to create the Vulcan hand salute for his character, Mr. Spock, on Star Trek. Apparently the directors told him to come up with some type of hand sign to use in the film. Being Jewish, this was the first thing Spock thought of, and they just went with it.

Photo credit: StarTrek.com

In the Hebrew language Shin as a prefix carries similar meaning to "that", "which" and "who".

The Shin-Bet was an old acronym for the Israeli Department of Internal General Security, and the name of the service is still usually translated as such in English. In Israeli Hebrew and Palestinian Arabic, the security service is known as the "Shabak".
A Shin-Shin is the Hebrew acronym for Shenat Sherut, meaning "year of service". In addition, a Shin-Shin clash is Israeli military jargon for a battle between two tank divisions.
Sh'at haShin (the Shin hour) is the last possible moment for any action, usually military. This corresponds to the English expression the eleventh hour.

Photo credit: https://bereanbiblejourneys.com

The letter Shin mimics the structure of a human heart, above. The lower, larger left ventricle (which supplies the full body) and the smaller right ventricle (which supplies the lungs) are positioned like the lines of the letter Shin. This is said to remind us that we are to love the Lord our G-d with all of our heart.

Photo credit: https://bereanbiblejourneys.com

When you look at a topographical map of Jerusalem, above, you can see that the three valleys that comprise the city's geography - the Hinom Valley, Tyropoeon Valley and Kidron Valley - all converge to form the shape of the letter Shin. G-d said he would put His name in Jerusalem, and from an aerial view, here it is!

Finally, according to Judges 12:6, the tribe of Ephraim could not differentiate between Shin and Samekh, the fifteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. When the tribe was at war with the Gileadites, the Gileadites would ask suspected Ephraimites to say the word shibolet; an Ephraimite would say sibolet and thus be exposed. From this episode we get the English word shibboleth.

* Jewish people do not write G‑d's name in a place where it may be discarded or erased. Treating G‑d's name with reverence is a way to give respect to G‑d.

** This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Senior Salon Pit Stop Link Party, Tuesday Turn About Link Party and Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.