He journeyed twice to the Land of Israel (then part of Ottoman Syria), once in 1644, alone, and a second time in 1652, when, together with his family, he settled in Jerusalem, founding there a study hall.

Conforte's chief work is a literary chronicle now known by the title Ḳore ha-Dorot, which contains the names of all the teachers and writers from the close of the Talmud up to his own day.

His chronicle is valuable for the literary history of the Jews in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially in Turkey, Italy, Africa, and the near East.

The original manuscript was brought from Egypt by R. David Ashkenazi of Jerusalem, who, to judge from a note in his preface, gave it the title Ḳore ha-Dorot, and had it printed in Venice in 1746, without mentioning the name of the author.

Gabriel Conforto, a Turkish Talmudist who is mentioned in the responsa literature of the seventeenth century, was probably a son of David Conforte.