person · P0301 · rishonim
Yaakov ben Netanel רבי יעקב בן נתנאל
Leader of Yemenite Jewry in the 1170s, remembered because of the letter he wrote and the answer it received: his appeal to the Rambam amid forced apostasy and a messianic pretender drew the Iggeret Teiman (Iggeret Teiman) — the founding document of the bond between the Rambam and Teiman. Beyond that correspondence almost nothing of his life is recorded, and the atlas keeps his entry accordingly thin.
Who
- Hebrew
- רבי יעקב בן נתנאל
- Also known as
- Jacob ben Nathanael al-Fayyumi
- Era
- rishonim
When
- Traditional
- fl. c. 4930 AM
- Civil (computed)
- 4900–4950 AM · 1140–1190 CE
- Academic
- fl. c. 1170s CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈50 years
- Precision
- unknown
How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Iggeret Teiman is addressed to him by name — "to the honored, great, and holy Master and Teacher, Jacob... son of the honored... Master and Teacher, Nathanael" — the Rambam's own salutation. | tradition | ★★★★★ | |
| His letter to the Rambam reported the compulsory apostasy decreed by the rebel ruler of Yemen and the claimant who declared himself the Messiah — the crisis (c. 1172) that the Iggeret Teiman answers point by point.
No city in Yemen is securely attested as his seat, so no place link is drawn; he stands for the Teiman community as a whole.
|
tradition external | ★★★★☆ |