 In 1665, when the Sabbatai Zevi movement was at its height there, he was one of the few rabbis who had the courage to oppose the false prophet and excommunicate him.Sabbatai Zevi and his adherents retorted by deposing him and forcing him to leave the city, and his office was given to his colleague, Ḥayyim Benveniste, at that time one of Sabbatai's followers.After Sabbatai's conversion to Islam, Lapapa seems to have been reinstated.