Rabbi David Leikes (also spelled Leykes) was the son of Rabbi Israel and his wife Leah. His surname is said to be a corruption of "Leah's", that is, "David son of Leah", after his mother's name.

He was one of the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov. He first served as a dayan on the rabbinical court of Bar, in Podolia (today in Ukraine), under Rabbi Yaakov Shimshon of Shepetovka; after the latter's departure he was appointed rabbi and av beit din of the town.

The sources describe him as a constantly joyful man who spread good cheer around him. When his first wife and children died, he rebuked those who came to comfort him and kept his happy disposition; when the Baal Shem Tov passed away he wept, but allowed himself only a brief mourning.

He remarried when he was over seventy and had two sons and a daughter, Feiga, who in a second marriage became the wife of Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl. Several of his descendants, including his grandson Rabbi David of Tolna, were named after him. He gave the only haskamah (approbation) to the Iggeret HaKodesh of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, published in 5554 (1793-1794), and one of his responsa appears at the beginning of the book Tikkunei HaZevach (Odessa, 1882).

He passed away on 21 Nissan, the seventh day of Pesach, in 5559 (1799) according to the inscription on his restored tombstone, or in 5560 according to other sources, at a very advanced age (about a hundred according to his biographers). He is buried in Bar, the town of his rabbinate. According to his tombstone, he promised his descendants that if they came to pray at his grave on Rosh Chodesh Elul when it falls on a Wednesday, their prayers would be answered.