ר׳ אברהם חיים נאה

ר׳ אברהם חיים נאה (3 May 1890–21 July 1954), commonly called הגרא״ח נאה and בעל השיעורים, was a Jerusalem Chabad halakhist whose system of ritual measurements became one of the principal modern standards. Born in Hebron, he studied with his father ר׳ מנחם מנדל נאה, head of Magen Avot, and later at Ohel Moshe and Torat Chaim in Jerusalem. In 1911 he travelled as a Chabad emissary to Bukhara and served the Jewish community in Samarkand. Returning as war began, he was expelled as a Russian subject to Alexandria, where he established Yeshivat Eretz Yisrael for Palestinian exiles and wrote practical halakhic material for Egyptian Jewry. After the war he returned to Jerusalem, became scribe and secretary of the Edah HaChareidis court and worked closely with ר׳ יוסף חיים זוננפלד. He also served the Bukharan Quarter, taught at Musayof and held leadership roles in Kollel Chabad and Agudath Israel’s rabbinical court. קצות השולחן systematically adapts ר׳ שניאור זלמן מלאדי’s rulings for practical use. שיעורי תורה translated traditional quantities into grams and centimetres; his relatively smaller measures later became famous through debate with ר׳ אברהם ישעיהו קרליץ. He died in Jerusalem and was buried at Har HaMenuchot.