Sasportas was born in
Oran, Algeria, then under
Spanish rule, to a distinguished family of scholars and diplomats. A child prodigy, he joined the
Tlemcen rabbinical court at eighteen. He became the rabbi of Tlemcen at twenty-four, and later held the same position in
Marrakesh,
Fes, and
Salé. Around 1646, he was imprisoned by the Moorish king but managed to escape with his family to Amsterdam around 1653. He stayed there till the disorders in Africa ceased, when he was called back by the King of Morocco and sent on a special mission to the Spanish court (ca. 1659) to ask for aid against the rebels. On his return he was invited to the rabbinate of the
Portuguese community of London (1664). According to
David Franco Mendes (in
Ha-Meassef, 1788, p. 169), Jacob had accompanied
Menasseh ben Israel to London in 1655. Owing to the outbreak of the plague in London in 1665, Jacob went to Hamburg, where he officiated as rabbi till 1673. In that year he was called to Amsterdam and appointed head of the
yeshiva Keter Torah, founded by the brothers Pinto. Two years later he became dayyan and head of the yeshiva at
Livorno, and in 1680 he returned to Amsterdam, where he was appointed head of the yeshiva 'Eitz Hayyim. After the death of
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca (1693) he was appointed rabbi of the Portuguese community, which office he held till his death at
Amsterdam. Jacob was one of the most violent antagonists of the
Shabbethaian movement; he wrote many letters to various communities in Europe, Asia, and Africa, exhorting them to unmask the impostors and to warn the people against them.
Grätz ("Gesch." x., note 2) identifies Jacob Sasportas with Jaho Saportas, who competed with the Cansinos for the office of interpreter at the Spanish court (
Jacob Cansino's preface to
Moses Almosnino's "Extremos y Grandezas de Constantinople," Madrid, 1638). His works had a great influence on
Aaron ben Samuel. He was the father of
Isaac ben Jacob Sasportas. ==Works==