Avraham Chaim Naeh - Biography

Avraham Chaim Naeh (1890–1954) was a Lubavitcher chassid and posek (halachic authority), most famous for his works Ketzos ha-Shulchan , Shiurei Mikveh, and Shiurei Torah, (Measurements of the Torah), in which he converted biblical measurements into contemporary measurements. The work is of significance as much of Jewish law involves specific requirements of certain sizes and quantities.

Naeh was born in Hebron, Palestine. His father, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Naeh, was the dean of the Magen Avos Yeshiva, founded by the Sdei Chemed. He studied in his youth at the Ohel Moshe Yeshiva, under Rabbi Yitzchak Yerucham Diskin. In 1912, Naeh published Chanoch la-Noar, a book containing laws for bar mitzvah boys.

When World War I broke out, the Ottoman authorities expelled people from Palestine who did not possess Turkish citizenship. Many of the dispossessed Jews found refuge in Alexandria, Egypt, where Naeh opened a yeshiva called "Yeshivat Eretz Yisrael". His yeshivah had 200 students who had been exiled from Jerusalem. In Alexandria, Naeh wrote Shenot Chaim, a special Kitzur Shulchan Aruch for Sephardic Jews. In 1918, he returned to Palestine and served as the personal secretary of the Edah HaChareidis, under Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. In 1948, he founded the Vaad ha-Rabbanim of Agudas Yisrael and later helped found the hareidi weekly newspapers, Kol Yisrael and HaModia.