 His father, Rabbi Shlomo ibn Habib was a scion of a distinguished family that was forced to emigrate from Spain.Among his forefathers were Rabbi Jacob ibn Habib, the author the famous book Ein Yaakov and Joseph ibn Habib, author of the commentary Nimmuke Yosef.At the age of 15 Moses moved to Jerusalem, where he enrolled in the "yeshiva" of Rabbi Jacob Hagiz.