Eliyahu Ben Haim

Eliyahu Ben Chaim (born August 4, 1940) is a Sephardi rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and Orthodox halachist.

In Tehran, Ben Haim began serving the local community of Mashadi Jews as a rabbi and hazzan.

In 1979, in the wake of the Iranian Revolution, he went with his family to the United States and served as the chief rabbi of the Mashadi Persian Jewish community of Long Island (UMJCA).

Ben Haim was considered a close friend of Mordechai Eliyahu and delivered many eulogies for him.

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

Rabbi Ben-Chaim welcoming Rabbi Amar
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
Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Chaim, Rosh Yeshiva at YU and Av Bet Din in Queens, with The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Chaim, Rosh Yeshiva at YU and Av Bet Din in Queens, with Yitzchak Shamir
Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Chaim, Rosh Yeshiva at YU and Av Bet Din in Queens, with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon