Rabbi Moshe Aharon Pinto was born in 1912. He was the son of Rabbi Chaim Pinto Hakatan and a scion of the illustrious Pinto family descended from Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, the Rif, author of the commentary on Ein Yaakov. According to the Chai Center, his father named him Moshe Aharon because he embodied the virtues of both Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon HaKohen.

He married Rebbetzin Mazal Tov, daughter of Simcha Elkeslasy, from a family originally of Marrakesh; his father is said to have foretold the match when she was born.

He is counted among the hidden tzaddikim: he did not wish to be known, and his life was devoted entirely to Torah study and prayer. According to Hevrat Pinto, his father asked him to vow to remain secluded at home for forty years; he spent thirty years in his home in Mogador (Essaouira) and ten in Casablanca, before asking permission to settle in Israel. The sources describe him as humble and a lover of peace, a man who rose in honor of every person and was devoted to tzedakah. His followers called him the "Light and Pillar of the World."

His sons carry on his legacy: Rabbi Chaim Shimon Pinto, chief rabbi of Ashdod; Rabbi David Chananya Pinto, head of the Orot Chaim U'Moshe institutions and Hevrat Pinto; and Rabbi Yaakov Yeshua Pinto.

After a long and painful illness of three years, Rabbi Moshe Aharon Pinto passed away in Ashdod on 5 Elul 5745 (August 22, 1985), at the age of 73. He is buried at the entrance to the Ashdod cemetery, where his grave has become a place of pilgrimage and his hillula draws thousands every year.