The am ha'aretz are denounced in a very late and exceptional passage in Talmud Bavli Pesahim 49, where they are contrasted with the chachamim ("wise") and talmidei chachamim ("wise students", i.e. scholars of the Talmud).
Five years later, in 1680, he was brought to London to succeed Joshua da Silva as Hakham of London where he served for 15 years as the hakham of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in London.
His son-in-law was Moses Gaster (1856–1939), the Hakham of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation, London, and a Hebrew linguist.