Born in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 1952, Abecassis brings an innate understanding of the Sephardic experience to his works. When Raphael was three years old, his family moved to Israel, settling in Netivot, a small town with a predominantly Moroccan and Sephardic population. In this atmosphere, the family retained its traditions, and young Raphael assimilated the vivid colors, delicate filigree, and intricate mosaics characteristic of his heritage, which distinguish his style.

His work appeared in the Hervé Art Gallery in Paris in 1980, then in galleries and museums throughout Israel and in the United States and Canada. Among the private collections holding his work are those of former US Vice President Dan Quayle (a gift from the previous Israeli Prime Minister Shamir) and Prime Minister Philipe Gonzales of Spain.

In the spring of 1990, Yeshiva University Museum in New York City mounted an Abecassis exhibition featuring selections from his illuminated parchment manuscripts for the Psalms of David and a suite of eight original serigraphs depicting the Song of Songs, which have been described as images that evoke music. "If you look and listen, you can almost hear the sounds of joy and religious fervor emanating from his paintings," says Linda Shamah, of Adine Fine Arts, his representative in New York.