[Avodah] R' Akiva

[Cantor Wolberg]

It's brought down that there was a question how to spell Rabbi Akiva’s  
name.
Do you spell it with an aleph at the end or with a hay at the end? In  
the gemara
it is spelled ayin, kuf, yud, veis, aleph.  We are told that it was  
once revealed to
one of the Sages in a dream how to spell the name Akiva from the pasuk  
“or zarua
latzadik ul’yishrei lev simcha” from Psalm 97. The last letter of Or  
ends with a reish
which stands for Rebbe, Zarua (Ayin) Latzaddik (kuf) ul’yishrei (yud)  
lev (veis)
simcha (hay). So this was revealed to him in a dream from heaven that  
Akiva should
be spelled with a hay at the end and not an aleph. So someone asked  
the Rebbe,
how can that be proof when we know “Lo bashamayim hee?” He responded  
that here
it is not a halacha where there are disagreements, etc. But here it’s  
a m’tzius; it’s a fact.
However, in a case where someone with the name Akiva, has spelled his  
name with an
aleph (at the end) his whole life, then that’s how you would spell it.  
But otherwise it is
spelled with a hay.

Another point to the spelling: Akiva has five letters in Hebrew
(as well as in English, coincidentally). The fifth letter of his name  
which should be hay,
is also the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

So tonight at kabalah Shabbos, you'll be reminded of this when you  
come to the or zarua.

Kol tuv.
Shabbat shalom.
ri


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