The opposition party made up in zeal what it lacked in number. Alhakem decided in favor of the majority, and confirmed Chanoch in his rabbinate. But as Ibn-Abitur would not relinquish his claim, he was excommunicated by the victorious party. In spite of this he did not abandon hope. He appealed in person to the Caliph. He hoped to gain him over through his knowledge of Arabic literature, and through his service in translating the Mishna, and so effect a reversal of the decree. But his hopes were vain. The Caliph addressed him in the words: "If my subjects scorned me, as the community of Cordova scorns you, I would abdicate my kingdom. My only advice to you is to emigrate." The wish of the Caliph appeared to Ibn-Abitur a command, and he left Cordova (975). When he saw that he could not gain any followers in Spain, he set sail for Africa, traversed Maghreb, the Fatimide dominion, and probably also Egypt, without finding favor anywhere. Meanwhile, however, affairs suddenly took a favorable turn for Ibn-Abitur. One of his chief supporters was raised to a high position, and used his influence on his behalf. This was the silk manufacturer, Jacob Ibn-Jau, whose checkered career bears witness to the arbitrariness dominant in the Spanish Caliphate after the death of the last just and cultured Caliph, Alhakem (976). The title of Caliph appears to have descended to his son Hisham, a sickly youth, but the chief power lay in the hands of Mahomet Almansur, the terror of the Christians in the mountains of northern Spain and of the Africans in their fortresses. Under this Mahometan "Major Domus," Jacob Ibn-Jau, the supporter of Ibn-Abitur, obtained great respect and considerable power over the Jewish-Spanish community. The circumstances of his good fortune are rather extraordinary. Jacob Ibn-Jau and his brother Joseph supplied the court with costly embroidered silk. Their goods were admired and sought after. Their business brought them into contact with Almansur, and on one occasion they found a considerable sum of money in the court of his palace, which had been lost by some provincials who had been ill-treated. The brothers Ibn-Jau spent the money in presents for the young Caliph and Almansur, so as to obtain their favor, and procure the recall of the banished Ibn-Abitur. Their attempt succeeded. In 985, Almansur appointed the elder brother Jacob as prince and chief judge of the various Jewish communities in the kingdom of the Andalusian Caliphate on both sides of the strait, from Segelmessa in Africa as far as the Douro. He had the sole right to appoint judges and rabbis in the communities, and to determine the taxes for state purposes and for communal wants. Jacob Ibn-Jau held court, as it were, had eighteen pages in his retinue, and drove about in a state carriage. The community of Cordova, proud of the distinction shown to one of its own members, recognized him as its chief, paid homage to him, made his office hereditary, and the poets sang his