Eliyahu Ben Haim

Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Haim
Position Chief Rabbi
Synagogue Sha'are Shalom (United Mashadi Community of America)
Position Rosh yeshiva
Yeshiva Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan
Position Av Beit Din
Organisation Badatz Mekor Haim
Personal details
Birth name Eliyahu Ben-Chaim
Born 1940 (age 74–75)
Jerusalem, Israel
Nationality Persian, Israeli
Denomination Orthodox Judaism
Residence Great neck, NY
Parents Saleh (Betzalel) Ben Chaim
Simcha Ben Chaim
Occupation Rabbi, Talmudic scholar, judge, lecturer, recognized halakhic authority
Alma mater Porat Yosef Yeshiva
Semicha Rabbi Salman Hugi Aboudi, Rabbi Ezra Attia, Rabbi Yaakov Ades, Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg, Rabbi Ovadia Hedaya

Eliyahu Ben Haim (born 1940) is a Sephardi rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and Orthodox halachist. He is the Av Beit Din (head of the rabbinical court) of Mekor Haim in Queens, New York, and a prominent leader of New York's Sephardi Jewish community.

Early life

Born in Israel, Ben Haim studied at Yeshivat Porat Yosef, where he was recognized as a prodigy with a distinguished memory. He attended the shiur of Rabbi Ben Zion Abba Shaul and received semicha (rabbinic ordination) from Rabbi Ezra Attia at the age of 17, when he was tested on the entire Shulchan Aruch. Ben Haim also fostered a close relationship with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who studied Even Ha'ezer with him. He also fought in the Six Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973).

Community work

In 1962, at the age of 22, he was appointed maggid shiur at Yeshiva Beth Harashal in Jerusalem. Five years later, he became the rosh yeshiva of that yeshiva. In 1973 he began teaching at the Lifshitz Teachers Seminary in Jerusalem. In 1975 he was sent by the Jewish Agency to serve as a rabbi in Tehran, where he hosted Ovadia Yosef during the latter's historic trip to Iran. In Tehran, Ben Haim began serving the local community of Mashadi Jews as a rabbi. In 1979, in the wake of the Iranian Revolution, he came with his family to the United States and served as the chief rabbi of the Mashadi Persian Jewish community of Long Island. Since 1993, he has lectured at Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan (RIETS), also known as Yeshiva University.

Ben Haim was considered a favorite and close friend of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and delivered a eulogy for him in Midrash Ben Ish Hai. He also delivered a eulogy for Ovadia Yosef in Yeshiva University. Ben Chaim runs Beit Din Mekor Haim, which addresses the needs of the Jewish community in matters of marriage, divorce, conversion, civil law, and kosher supervision.

Rabbi Ben-Chaim welcoming Rabbi Amar
Rabbi Ben Haim (top row, second from the left) with Shimon Peres, Teddy Kollek, and David Ben Gurion (bottom row) shortly after the Six Day War (1967). This picture hangs in the Old City of Jerusalem's Four Sephardic Synagogues

Vision and outlook

Ben Haim, like his teacher, Ovadia Yosef, advocates using the Kochah DeHeterah (power of leniency) to assist every Jewish person in need, especially agunahs, women whose husbands refuse to provide a get (Jewish bill of divorce).

References

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