Rabbi Avraham Yehuda Chein, Rabbi of Sopot

The Rav Avraham-Yehuda Chen was Rav of the Jewish Community of Sopot (near Danzig) from about 1919 to 1934. Most of the community were refugees from Russia, as was Rav Chen himself. The interest in Rav Chen derives not only from the man himself, but also because his forbears go back to the Rav Elchanan of Schottland (1713-1780).

Avraham Chen was a gifted essayist in addition to being a rabbi and talmid chacham. His works were published posthumously by Mossad HaRav Kook (1958) as a three volume book of essays, entitled "Bemalchut Hayahadut" ("In the Kingdom of Judaism"). A nutshell version of his genealogy is given as a small footnote in a chapter entitled "Lamenachemai" ("to my comforters"); and a short biography appears in the introduction.

He was born in 1878 in Chernigov (Belarus) where his father, the RADATZ (Rabbi David Zvi Chen) was the Rabbi. The RADATZ's father, the Rav Peretz Chen, had been the Rabbi of Chernigov before him, and had been a confidant of the third Chabad Rebbe, the Tzemach Zedek.

In 1902, Avraham Chen married Leah, daughter of Reb Moshe Ginzburg, a rich merchant, philanthropist and Chassid, in Cherkassi (Ukraine).

In 1910 he was appointed Rav of Novozivkov, in the district of Chernigov, and officiated there until after the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1919, he escaped with his family over the border to Bialystock (Poland), and soon after was appointed Rav of Sopot, as mentioned above.

In 1934, the Nazi influence was already felt in Danzig, and the Rav Avraham Chen again departed firstly to Paris and then to Eretz Yisrael in 1935. After two years in Tel-Aviv he moved to Jerusalem where he had been invited to become Rav of Bet-Midrash Rambam. He filled a number of other important posts until his death in 1957.

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The Rav Avraham Chen, in his book, refers to the Sidrei Tahara as the Rav Elchanan Chen. Indeed, in the introduction to his book (not written by the author), the same name is given. In a book entitled "On the Poems of Zelda," by Chamutal Bar-Yosef, the authoress gives a biography of the Chen family (Zelda was a granddaughter of the RADATZ); and she, too, identifies the Sidrei Tahara as Elchanan Chen. Of course, it is possible that all three authors took their information from the same source; but it would be strange if the Rav Avraham Chen were mistaken, since not only had he seen the family tree but had himself been a rabbi in a suburb of Danzig.