Rabbi Avraham Chaim Na'eh was born in Iyar 5650 (1890) to his father Rabbi Menachem Mendel and his mother Musia, leaders of the Chabad community in Hebron. His father was the 13th generation in a lineage of rabbis, and his maternal grandfather was a 'choizer' (one who would memorize and repeat the Rebbe's discourses) and emissary for the Tzemach Tzedek. The Grach [an acronym for the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Chaim] studied primarily under his father and his uncle, R' Shlomo Leib Eliezerov, and was close to the 'Sdei Chemed', the rabbi of Hebron. At age 15, he married Rebbetzin Devorah, and after a year moved to Jerusalem to study. At 18, he first came to Lubavitch with his reputation preceding him: R' Itche der Masmid held a farbrengen in his honor, and the Rebbe Rashab asked him to stay as a Rosh Yeshivah. The Grach asked for his father's permission, but his father said he couldn't allow it and so the Grach returned to Jerusalem.
In 5671 (1911), he went on a two-year mission to Bukhara, where he was very active. With the outbreak of the First World War, he was exiled to Egypt along with many foreign nationals expelled by the Ottoman government. There too, he worked to strengthen Judaism, printed a book of Jewish law in Arabic, and was revered by the local Jews. When he returned to Jerusalem, he lived in the Bukharan neighborhood and devoted himself to strengthening Jewish observance. He delved into and clarified the rulings of the Alter Rebbe in his Shulchan Aruch and Siddur, and wrote the "Luach Kolel Chabad" with laws and customs according to Chabad rulings. He became especially known for establishing the tradition regarding Torah measurements, in contrast to the Chazon Ish's approach, which tended to maximize the measurements.
His life was short and full of hardships: his first wife died young, and his son was murdered in the 5699 (1939) Arab riots against the Jews of the Land of Israel. Despite the wanderings and troubles, it is said that he was a joyful man; one could hear him approaching from a distance, singing and humming to himself. He passed away on the 20th of Tammuz 5714 (1954), at the age of 64, and was buried on Har HaMenuchot in Jerusalem.
In 5671 (1911), when the Gra"ch was 21 years old, he left the Land of Israel for Bukhara following his uncle, the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Leib Eliezerov, who was very active there. “In Bukhara,” his daughters relate, “the state of Judaism was very difficult. Ignorance prevailed and much had to be done to strengthen the connection of the youth and adults to their Jewish heritage. Rabbi Chaim arrived in Bukhara illegally and stayed there without a visa. Within a short time, he managed to integrate well among the members of the Jewish community becoming their unofficial rabbi. Father stayed there for only two years but managed to accomplish a great deal.”
During this time, he worked on his first book Chanoch LaNa'ar, a book designed to help boys who had reached bar mitzvah age and needed to learn the laws of tefillin. Rabbi Chaim wrote the book in precise Bukharan Arabic, after having been in Bukhara for just a few months. “He learned the language from a Bible translated into Bukharan. He wore the clothes of the local Jews and became one of them. Father traveled to Warsaw to print the book Chanoch LaNa'ar, and even there he wore the traditional clothes of Bukharan Jews. He always told us that in Warsaw he met one of his friends who had studied with him in the yeshivah in Jerusalem. The friend couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw him in Bukharan dress and thought he was joking.”
“One Shabbat evening, we were walking home. On the way, we saw a Bukharian Jew with his son. When they saw Father from afar, they hurried to catch up with us, and that Jew turned to Father: ‘Chacham Chaim, this child came into the world thanks to you.’ It turned out that when Father was in Bukhara, this Jew, who was childless, approached him and asked for a blessing. Father left Bukhara and throughout the entire period had not met that Jew, who in the meantime had established a splendid family with several children.”
(From an interview with the daughters of the Grach Na’eh)
The Grach Na’eh serves as a prime example of a Torah scholar who was accepted in almost all Jewish communities—from Bukhara and Egypt to Russia and Hungary. His teachings, based on Jerusalem custom, received the blessing of Jerusalem’s great rabbis from all circles and became the accepted ruling. Even the Chazon Ish, his halachic opponent, greatly appreciated his Torah greatness. Simultaneously, the Grach was a Chabad chasid with all his heart and soul. He headed a yeshivah in Jerusalem that worked to spread Chasidut among those unfamiliar with it, he traveled to Lubavitch many times, and was one of the first to passionately connect with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, even when there were Chabad chasidim in Jerusalem who hesitated to do so. When Chabad chasidim in Jerusalem signed a letter requesting the Rebbe to accept the leadership, he insisted that they write the customary honorific titles at the head of the letter saying: “For me, he is already Rebbe!” It is possible that the support of a Torah scholar of such stature influenced the Rebbe’s decision to ultimately accept the yoke of leadership.
The Grach’s devotion to the Alter Rebbe is also evident in his writings, to which he was especially dedicated. He used to say that in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, there are hidden “teachings within teachings,” and when one toils and delves deeply, one discovers entire topics folded within individual words. The Grach also engaged in the rulings in the Alter Rebbe’s siddur, clarifying their correctness and delving into them. Interestingly, his occupation with measurements and their precise sizes also has a source in the words of the Alter Rebbe: “Because the commandments were given to us through the embodiment of the attribute of gevurah (might) and contraction… most commandments have a precise measure.”
Indeed, this is what Rabbi Avraham Chaim’s daughters recount:
When father was writing his book Shiurei Torah, he was constantly engaged in these matters. Throughout the day, father was occupied with measuring various objects. I, as a little girl, would go to bring him the scale from the goldsmith. He told me to bring a scale specifically from him, since a goldsmith has an almost perfect scale, as he uses it to weigh very small gold particles. With this scale, he would weigh all sorts of objects. On the table in our room, where father would sit and study, there was no space for so much as a matchstick. Half the table was covered with father’s books, and on the other half stood various weights, large and small eggs, and different types of olives. (Eggs and olives are used as basic measurements in Jewish law).
Father would also call various people and measure their thumbs and the length of their palms, to examine different opinions in accordance with today's reality. Besides this, when father was in the synagogue, he would always measure the length of people’s tzitzit. Once when he measured someone’s tzitzit on Shabbat. The person said to him: “Are you not measuring, which is forbidden on Shabbat?” But Rabbi Chaim immediately answered him: “This measurement is a mitzvah, and it is permitted to do so on Shabbat!”
When father arrived in Bnei Brak, one of the daughters recounts, he came to visit the Chazon Ish, and the Chazon Ish walked several blocks to greet him. The Chazon Ish respected him greatly, despite disagreeing with him on fundamental issues.
