Jacob ben Nethanel ben Fayyūmī

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JACOB BEN NETHANEL BEN FAYYŪMĪ

JACOB BEN NETHANEL BEN (AL-) FAYYŪMĪ (12th century), *nagid of Yemenite Jewry, when ʿAbd al-Nabī ibn al-Mahdī, the ruler of *Yemen, decreed a forced renunciation of Judaism in about 1160. Many Jews converted to Islam and the Messiah's coming was widely awaited. R. Jacob turned for counsel to *Maimonides, who replied in the form of a letter known as Iggeret Teiman ("Epistle to Yemen," c. 1172) in which he sought to strengthen the faith of the Jews of the country.

bibliography::

Neubauer, Chronicles, 1 (1887), 122; M. Maimonides, Iggeret Teiman, ed. by A.S. Halkin (1952), v–ix (introd.); A.Z. Aescoly, Ha-Tenu'ot ha-Meshiḥiyyot be-Yisrael (1956), 178–81; add. bibliograph: J. Kafih (ed.), Iggerot Rabenu Moshe Ben Maimon (1972), 9–10.

[Abraham David]

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