As a star trek fan, I am saddened by the loss of Nimoy, without him the series would not have been as good as it was. I know that he himself had a love/hate relationship with the character of Spock (which I can understand), but I think large parts of the character seem to be based on who he was. I didn’t know about the Vulcan split finger greeting being from Jewish tradition, but it doesn’t surprise me, while from what I recall he wasn’t particularly observant, that he was deeply enmeshed in Jewish tradition and culture and had studied it.
While a lot of people knew him only as Spock, he was a lot deeper person than that. Besides his photography, he also was a big supporter of the arts, and a theater at Symphony Space in NYC bears his name (and my son has played there:) and he supported a number of arts groups and such. From people I know that have met him (I never had the chance) he had a great sense of humor, especially about Spock, and was a caring and giving person in real life. Even if he only did Spock I would love him, but from what I could tell he also was a good person, and that makes him even more to be missed.