In his youth, he studied with his father and with Rabbi Yitzhak Sabag, Dayan and Rosh Yeshiva in Meknes.

He was a promising Torah prodigy at a very young age, and was a leading student of Morocco's Chief Rabbi Yehoshua Berdugo.

When he departed for Israel, Messas was escorted to the airport by Morocco's King Hassan II himself, who requested that the Rabbi bless him one last time before his departure, and with that was his last official act in Moroccan.

Ovadia Yosef consulted with Messas in matters of Jewish law and scholarship, often citing him as his support in issuing bold halachic decisions.

He was said to be very exact in preserving Sephardic customs, and would work full days and nights to try to find a Halachic way to solve the issue at hand.