Jacobs studied at Manchester Yeshivah, and later at the kolel in Gateshead. His teachers included Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, an orthodox expositor of Jewish moral and theological teachings. Jacobs was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi at Manchester Yeshivah. Later in his career he studied at University College London where he earned his PhD, on the topic of 'The Business Life of the Jews in Babylon, 200-500 BCE'. Jacobs was appointed rabbi at Manchester Central Synagogue in 1948. In 1954 he was appointed to the New West End Synagogue in London.