[Avodah] R' Akiva

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

Cantor Wolberg wrote:
> 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, ...

R' Micha Berger wrote:
> In the Y-mi the spelling is (usually? always?) with a hei.
> However, straight grammar... Aqiva is an Aramaic variant
> of "Ya'aqov". Aramaic uses alef for the mater lexionis of a
> final qamatz. A hei would be Hebrew.
> And straight history.... The Y-mi was closer in date and
> geography to Rabbi Aqivah. Their spelling is more likely to
> reflect the same culture as R' Aqivah himself.

A personal note: During my Y.U. days, I had not just one, but several questions about my Hebrew name. I've unfortunately forgotten which rav I asked, but it was almost certainly either rabbis Besdin, Siff, or possibly Fulda. (If you knew YU in the '70s and don't know those names, it's because you weren't in JSS.) Anyway, whoever it was told me to spell it with a heh at the end, and I have done so ever since.

I had long known of the idea of taking the last letter of each word from that pasuk, but I never gave it any more significance than a cute gematria. If there is actually a medrash or other source which mentions a dream as the source for a correct spelling, I'd love to know where it is.

I asked *why* to use the heh, and his answer was simply that it is "more Hebrew". I figured he was referring to the "final kamatz" described by RMB. That's good enough right there, but RMB's additional info about the Gemara Yerushalmi and the historical dating is very welcome news. Thanks!

Akiva Miller

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