R. Jacob was burdened with the care of a large family and was under great financial pressure. Accordingly, he was forced to go abroad to seek help, going as far as Egypt and India. He was well received wherever he went, but his difficult economic circumstances haunted him throughout his life. He passed away in Jerusalem on 6 Shevat, 5668 (1908) and was buried on the Mount of Olives.

The first Jewish merchant to settle in Calcutta was Shalom b. Obadiah ha-Cohen (d. 1836), originally from Aleppo, who, after a successful stay in Surat, arrived in Calcutta in 1798 and developed a profitable trade there in jewels and precious stones. In 1816 he became the court jeweler of the Muslim ruler Ghazi al-Din Haydar and his son at Lucknow. Shalom ha-Cohen was soon joined in Calcutta by members of his family and business associates from Surat and Bombay, among whom Jacob Zemah Nissim figured prominently. With the arrival of Moses b. Simon Duwayk ha-Cohen and his family from Aleppo, Calcutta began to develop into one of the most prosperous and flourishing cultural and economic centers of Jewish life in India. Jews from Cochin and Yemen flocked there and took an active part in its development.

דף קלה-קם: ספר מועדי רגל... אשר חוברה לה בסוף ספר נפש יוסף (תיקון נפלא [מאת ר' יוסף ב"ר רפאל שלמה מורדוך, שאלוניקי תקט"ז]). בהשמטות ובקיצורים. דף קמא-קמב: תפלה לתקון חצות... שתיקן... מוהרש"ש [שר שלום מזרחי שרעבי ]... הביאה הרב... מוהרי"ן [יעקב שאלתיאל נינייו] בס' אמת ליעקב [ליוורנו תר"ג]... בארוכה, אמרתי להעתיק התורף. [1] דף בסוף: תפלה להחזלה... מצאתי בכת"י... פותחת: יהי רצון מלפניך ה' אלהינו ואלהי אבותינו אלהי הנפשות. אוצר השירה והפיוט, ב, עמ' 323, מס' 1410. כולל ליקוטי מוסר על חילול שבת, חובת התפילה בציבור, תפקידו של החזן, כוחה של צדקה, ועוד.