person · P0301
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.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- רבי יעקב בן נתנאל
- Also known as
- Jacob ben Nathanael al-Fayyumi
- Era
- rishonim
II. When
- Traditional
- fl. c. 4930 AM
- Academic
- fl. c. 1170s CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈50 years
- Precision
- unknown
V. 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 | ★★★★☆ |