Ayllon was neither a general scholar nor a Talmudist of standing,[2] but his history is closely interwoven with that of Sabbateanism (Sabbatai Zevi, Nathan of Gaza and Nehemiah Hayyun) in both the East and the West.

[5] One year later, he visited Europe as a meshullaḥ (messenger) from the Palestinian congregations to collect funds for the poor of Palestine, leaving his wife and children domiciled in Safed, and having apparently publicly broken with Sabbateanism.

[7][8] The Ma'amad, caring more for its dignity than for the truth, endeavoured to suppress the scandal, but Ayllon's position was so hopelessly undermined by the exposure, that all the really learned members of the congregation would not submit to the new haham, which caused considerable friction, in spite of a pronunciamento ("haskamah") issued by the Ma'amad that under penalty of excommunication it was forbidden "to any one except the appointed haham to lay down the law or to render any legal decision".

Ashkenazi peremptorily declined this express invitation to sit in council with Ayllon, for he was well aware both of his ignorance of the Cabala and of his suspected affinity with Sabbateanism.

He persuaded an influential member of the Ma'amad, a certain Aaron de Pinto, to take up the matter as an attempt on the part of the German rabbi to interfere with the autonomy of the Sephardic community around the Portuguese Synagogue.

It is difficult to discover whether Ayllon was actuated herein by secret loyalty to Sabbateanism, or whether, for personal reasons, he merely sought to clear Ḥayyun from the imputation cast upon him.

Be this as it may, De Pinto succeeded in having a resolution passed by the Ma'amad, declining to permit any such interference in their affairs by the German rabbi, and requesting Ayllon to appoint a committee to give an official opinion upon Ḥayyun's work.

Not alone did Ayllon permit his protégé, Ḥayyun, to assail the foremost men in Israel, but he supplied him with personal papers containing attacks upon his opponent Ḥagis.

Ayllon was also no doubt the rabbi who laid charges against Ashkenazi before the Amsterdam magistrates, and thus made an internal dissension of the Jewish community a matter of public discussion.