Rabbi Yaakov Abuchatzeira, known as the Abir Yaakov, was born in 1806 in the Tafilalet, Morocco, the son of Rabbi Masoud, a ninth-generation descendant of Rabbi Shmuel Elbaz, of a family that later took the name Abuchatzeira. He first learned Scripture and its cantillation from his father, and then Mishnah and Talmud. According to family tradition, by sixteen he was already filled with every dimension of the Torah; ordained by Rabbi Yeshua Danino, he became the leader of the Tafilalet community, serving it for decades as rabbi and preacher.

By his thirties he was counted among the greatest rabbis and halachic authorities of his generation, and Morocco's leading sages sent him their questions. A kabbalist, halachic authority, author and liturgical poet, he was the spiritual guide of the Jews of southern Morocco. He wrote many works of commentary, Kabbalah and halacha, including Pituchei Chotam, and tradition tells of many miracles wrought through his prayer; he is said to have merited a revelation of Elijah the Prophet. He is the patriarch of the illustrious Abuchatzeira family and grandfather of the Baba Sali.

In 1879 he set out for the Land of Israel by way of Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, but fell ill on the way and died in Damanhour, Egypt, on 20 Tevet 5640 (1880). His grave there became a place of pilgrimage for the Jews of Egypt, Morocco and Israel.