Possessed of great intellectual powers and many-faceted talents, he combined a religious and mystical ardor with an insatiable intellectual curiosity. Added to these were critical ability, a facile pen, and a boundless capacity for work. He spent most of his active years traveling abroad as an emissary of the communities of Erez Israel for the collection of funds for the upkeep of the academies and scholars. He ended his mission in 1778 in Leghorn, where he spent the rest of his life. Many stories are related of the wonders and miracles he performed. Pilgrimages were made to his tomb at Leghorn until 1960, thereafter in Jerusalem where his remains were reinterred.