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 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. He also fought in the Six Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973). 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.
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. 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).
