Hayy "Hiyya" ibn Ya'ish. 25Gibn Ya'ish ibn Ya'ish ben ben David al-Daudi, HaNasi

Phy_description: From 969 to 1071, the Fatimid caliphs of Egypt ruled Palestine. Most scholars are convinced that during this period the Fatimids considered the gaon of the Palestinian yeshiva to be the head of the Jews in their domain (in all lands controlled by Fatimids). Hiyya HaNasi (Gaon of Sefard) was educated at Yeshivat Ge’on Yaʿaqov (Academy of the Pride of Jacob - the Palestine Yeshiva); a skilled mathematician who was highly skilled in geometry. rHiyya HaNasi was the beneficiary of extensive grants of land in the vicinity of Lerida, with permission to rent them to whomever he desired, Christian, Jew, or Muslim. He also owned wine cellars in the Jewish citadel of Lerida. He is the first Jew to be designated in official documents as "bailiff' or “Almoxarife” [The Book of Lineage, or Sefer Yohassin by Abraham Zacuto ]rLerida and Monzon are close to Saragossa. Also in Aragon, southwest of Saragossa in the city of Calatayud was a magnificent edifice known as the Ibn Yahya synagogue, after its builder Aharon Ibn Yahya, "besides two other chapels of prayer and study that bore the names of their founders." Calatayud “Calat”|”al-Yehud”is translated to mean “Castle, or fortress, of the Jews”. By the kings of Aragon the Jews of Calatayud were granted certain privileges, among which was one with regard to the oath; and these privileges were from time to time renewed.rHiyya was administrator of Templar Lands in Castile-Leon. He was buried in a cemetery in Leon, Spain, just outside the walls of the Templar Castle. He fulfilled an important function in the apportionment of conquered territory on behalf of King Alfonso I “The Battler” (1073-1134) of Aragon and Navarre. Rabbi Hiyya was instrumental in conquering the the Taifa of Zaragoza (which included Lerida and Zaragoza and Monzon) from the arab dynasty named Banu Hud whose ruler was Al-Mustain I, Sulayman ibn Hud al-Judhami.rAt the Siege of Bayonne in October 1131, three years before his death, King Alfonso I published a will leaving his kingdom to three autonomous Christian religious orders based in Palestine which were politically independent of the pope, r1) the Knights Templar, 2) the Hospitallers, and 3) the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, rwhose influences were expected to conflict with each other and to cancel one another's influence in Palestine. The will has greatly puzzled historians, who read it as a bizarre gesture of extreme piety uncharacteristic of Alphonso's character, one that effectively undid his life's work. rElena Lourie (1975) suggested instead that it was Alphonso's attempt to neutralize the papacy's interest in a disputed succession— Aragon had been a fief of the Papacy since 1068— and to fend off Urraca's son from her first marriage, Alphonso VII of Castile, for the Papacy would be bound to press the terms of the will. This writer suspects the document to have been written by Hiyya ben David HaNasi, in order to neutralize foreign invaders in Palestine. Alphonso could not write - he employed his court Jew as scribe and physician.