Moussaieeff was born in the city of Bukhara in 1852, in what is today Uzbekistan. As a child, he studied under Rabbi David Chafin and Joshua Shushan. Joining him in his studies were Yosef Kohjinoff, Rafael Potihaloff, Moshe Cheh Yizhakoff, Avraham Aminoff Talmudi, and Aba Shimon Gaon. He was a learned man, with the honorary title of rabbi. As a merchant he engaged in the tea trade and real estate, and is said to have started one of the first banks in Bukhara. In 1888, motivated by religious convictions, he made aliyah to Palestine and was one of several Bukharan Jews responsible for founding the new Jerusalem neighborhood of Rehovot HaBukharim (later shortened to Bukharim) in 1891. He himself built a complex of apartments for use by 25 poor families, which included four synagogues. Today the Moussaieff complex of synagogues, which now numbers eight synagogues, is in continuous use.