He was a well-known posek (arbiter of Jewish law) for Sephardi Jews, a rosh yeshiva, and author of approximately 40 sefarim,[2] some of which were published during his lifetime.

[1] Jacob Rakkaḥ was the son of Rabbi Solomon (Shlomo) Rakkaḥ and the great-great-grandson[2] of Rabbi Mas'ud Hai Rakkah, author of Ma'aseh Rokeaḥ, who had come to Libya as a shadar (rabbinical emissary) from Palestine and stayed to lead the Jewish community in Tripoli for 20 years.

[7] Rakkaḥ founded at his own expense Yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Tripoli, which housed an estimated 1,000 seforim and valuable manuscripts.

[8] His cousin and contemporary, Hakham Abraham Hayyim Adadi, who was a great-grandson of Mas'ud Hai Rakkaḥ, published the second volume of Ma'aseh Rokeaḥ in 1862.

His Hilula (commemoration of the day of death) on 23 Adar is celebrated each year in one of the Israeli moshavs populated by Libyan Jewish emigres.