Thousands of students came to his Yeshiva from surrounding Balkan communities and he had several illustrious pupils such as; Yehoshua Khandali, and David Conforte.

His tenure was defined not only by excellent local leadership but also by an extensive relationship to other diasporic communities, (notably the Sephardic Jews of Dutch Brazil, headed by Moses Raphael de Aguilar and Isaac Aboab da Fonseca).

In fact one of the three volumes of his responsa Sefer Torat Hayyim relates to a question asked by the Jews of Brazil, regarding whether they should pray for rain, due to the reversal of seasons south of the equator.

In addition, he had close relationships with the communities of Safed, Venice, Sofia and Rhodes, who would often approach Shabbethai for halakhic direction.

[1][6] Some of his most famous works are as follows: He also wrote several commentaries on the talmudic tractate Ta'anit as well as others, which were printed in "Sefer Torat Moshe" written by his son Mosses Shabbethai.