At first rabbi and chief of the yeshivah at Thessaloniki, he later filled the same offices at İzmir, where at the beginning he shared the rabbinate with Joshua Ashkenazi Azariah.
When differences of opinion arose between them in regard to matters of ritual, they appealed to the rabbis of Thessaloniki for arbitration.
After his colleague's death, Escapa remained sole rabbi of İzmir until the end of his life.
Escapa wrote an important work called Rosh Yosef, a detailed commentary and novellæ on the Arba'ah Turim of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher.
He also wrote responsa; some were published under the title of Teshubot Rosh Yosef (Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1709).