<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">It's brought down that there was a question how to spell Rabbi Akiva’s name. <div>Do you spell it with an aleph at the end or with a hay at the end? In the gemara </div><div>it is spelled ayin, kuf, yud, veis, aleph. We are told that it was once revealed to </div><div>one of the Sages in a dream how to spell the name Akiva from the pasuk “or zarua </div><div>latzadik ul’yishrei lev simcha” from Psalm 97. The last letter of <i>Or</i> ends with a reish </div><div>which stands for Rebbe, Zarua (Ayin) Latzaddik (kuf) ul’yishrei (yud) lev (veis) </div><div>simcha (hay). So this was revealed to him in a dream from heaven that Akiva should </div><div>be spelled with a <i>hay</i> at the end and not an <i>aleph</i>. So someone asked the Rebbe, </div><div>how can that be proof when we know “Lo bashamayim hee?” He responded that here </div><div>it is not a halacha where there are disagreements, etc. But here it’s a m’tzius; it’s a fact. </div><div>However, in a case where someone with the name Akiva, has spelled his name with an </div><div>aleph (at the end) his whole life, then that’s how you would spell it. But otherwise it is </div><div>spelled with a <i>hay</i>.<div><br></div><div>Another point to the spelling: <i>Akiva </i>has five letters in Hebrew </div><div>(as well as in English, coincidentally). The fifth letter of his name which should be <i>hay</i>, </div><div>is also the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. </div><div><br></div><div>So tonight at kabalah Shabbos, you'll be reminded of this when you come to the <i>or zarua</i>.</div><div><br></div><div>Kol tuv. </div><div>Shabbat shalom.</div><div>ri</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></body></html>