Chaim (Haim) Nahum Effendi (; ; ) (1872–1960) was a Jewish scholar, jurist, and linguist of the early 20th century. He served as the Grand Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire. History He was born in 1872 in Manisa, Turkey. He was sent by his parents to a yeshiva in Tiberias, after which he studied at a French lycée for his secondary education and obtained a degree in Islamic law in Constantinople (Istanbul). Thereafter, he attended a rabbinical academy in Paris, from which he received his semicha. At the same time, he studied linguistics, history, and philosophy at the Sorbonne's School of Oriental Languages. Upon his return to Constantinople, Nahum occupied various teaching positions, including at the Turkish military academy. While there, he became acquainted with many of the leaders of the Young Turk movement, who gained power in 1908. In 1909 Nahum succeeded Moses Levi as Hakham Bashi, or chief rabbi, of the Ottoman Empire. "Nahum invested much effort in the restoration of communal institutions. He found a fervent advocate in the person of David Fresko, the editor of El Tiempo," a Ladino newspaper who politically supported the positions of Turkish reformers. During World War I he strove to be appointed as the Ambassador of the Ottoman Empire to the United States but did not get the position. During the peace negotiations following Turkish War of Independence that followed World War I, Nahum, the representative of the Ottoman Jews, was a member of the Turkish delegation that signed the Lausanne Treaty. For his services to the Turkish government he was given the title of effendi. In 1923 he received an invitation from Moise Cattaoui Pasha, head of the Jewish community of Cairo, to become chief rabbi of Egypt. He was appointed a Senator of Egypt's Legislative Assembly and was a founding member of the Royal Academy of the Arabic Language. Among his many scholarly works was a translation into French of all Ottoman firmans, or edicts, sent to the governors and rulers of Egypt by the Sublime Porte from the Turkish conquest of Egypt in 1517 until the late 19th century. His works on the history of the Egyptian community are of particular importance. In 1944 he helped to reconstitute the Société d'études historiques juives d'Égypte (Society for the Historical Study of the Jews of Egypt) and served as its honorary head. Rabbi Nahum was also active in international affairs,