Mr. Spock wants you to explore Shekhina - the feminine presence of God

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From http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?id=200405111607004965490&dt=20040511160700&w=APOXML&coview=

The women appear aglow; black and white images bathed in light. Some are nude, others are loosely covered with translucent robes or Jewish prayer shawls.

They are Leonard Nimoy's embodiment of Shekhina - the feminine presence of God.

Best known as Mr. Spock in "Star Trek," Nimoy left the screen to pursue other interests - most notably, photography.

In 2002, he published "Shekhina," a book of about 40 photographs that explore his interest in the feminine aspects of Jewish divinity. Many of the images are on display this month at the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton.

"At the heart of it all is the fact that I was trying to really completely enter into the world of the feminine," says Nimoy, 73. "I didn't want to do misty, cloudy figures. I didn't want to shroud her. I wanted to make her flesh and blood, and I wanted to make her definitively female."

It's an idea that was planted with Nimoy when he was about 8, although he didn't fully realize it until a few years ago. During a segment of high holiday services at his Orthodox synagogue in Boston, members of the congregation stood before the assembly to deliver a special blessing. Standing with his brother, father and grandfather, Nimoy was told not to look at the men as they chanted the prayer.

But he took a peek, and saw the men swaying with their arms outstretched and their hands splayed in the manner he would later use as the Vulcan greeting in his "Star Trek" role. The hand symbol represents the first letter of a Hebrew word for God.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

More here

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:44 (twenty-one years ago)

“Nimoy is a gnostic mystic -a radical spiritualist, indeed, a spiritual rebel…. I am suggesting that Nimoy’s fascination with the female body involves an element of temptation as well as transcendence. I am suggestion that what is really unusual about his female figures is that they signify profane and sacred love simultaneously… The issue that Nimoy’s photographs subtly address is the transmutation of sexual desire into spiritual aspiration… It is Nimoy’s ability to convey woman’s many-sidedness-Shekhina and Succubus at once-that makes his photographs profound.

-Donald Kuspit

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:45 (twenty-one years ago)

WOMAN'S MANY-SIDEDNESS

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:46 (twenty-one years ago)

hee hee

― de, Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~j-yen/cs285/images/escher/dodecahedron.jpg

― the 'surface' 'noise' (electricsound), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Gorgeous pix though, I'd no idea Nimoy was such a good photographer.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:49 (twenty-one years ago)

meh, i dunno. they're kinda sub- ansel adams.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Dude, what's up with Kirk & Spock calling Kristy Alley "Mr. Saavik"??

― Leeefuse 73 (Leee), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)

whoops I wanted the dork thread

― Leeefuse 73 (Leee), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I gather the "Mr." designation is standard military practice in some corners, though to be honest I never heard about it from my dad as being SOP during his time. Maybe I should ask!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 03:32 (twenty-one years ago)

high concept dirty old man....pure genuis.

― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 04:51 (twenty-one years ago)

WOMAN'S MANY-SIDEDNESS

Scarlett O'Hara:

"A girl's only got one side at a table."

― Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Tomorrow IS another day....

― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:05 (twenty-one years ago)

This is one of the most elaborate explanations for getting girls naked and snapping pics of them that I've ever seen.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:07 (twenty-one years ago)

otm

― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:07 (twenty-one years ago)

"Baby I just want to explore your radical divine feminity."

― "With my penis." (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"Are you a....Producer?"

― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:10 (twenty-one years ago)

"No, but I know Gene Rodenberry very well."

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:10 (twenty-one years ago)

They don't seem very Ansel Adams-like to me at all. (Ansel nudes might have been grebt, though - "Sunrise Over Yellowstone With Naked Girls")

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't know Vulcans were Jewish. The extent of the diaspora nenver ceases to amaze me.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:40 (twenty-one years ago)

they're the lost tribe!

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 07:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Theres gotta be a Futurama episode in this somewhere.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 09:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Highly illogical, Schlomo.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 10:35 (twenty-one years ago)

It is a good day to die, oy vey.

O wait that wasnt spock was it.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 10:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, Trayce, he always seemed more Roman than Jewish to me. An astingently Roman senator, a Cicero.

Some of the Kirk alien female seductresses were definitely Jewish princesses though.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 10:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I dread to think wot our beery convos on Friday will eventuate in, heh.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 10:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Hehe, should be fun.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 10:54 (twenty-one years ago)

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