Samuel Joseph Fuenn (Hebrew: שמואל יוסף פין, romanized: Shmuel Yosef Fin; 15 October 1818 – 11 January 1891),[note 1] also known as Rashi Fuenn (רש״י פין) and Rashif (רשי״ף), was a Lithuanian Hebrew writer, scholar, printer, and editor. He was a leading figure of the eastern European Haskalah, and an early member of Ḥovevei Zion.[7]
Samuel Joseph Fuenn
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Born | 15 October 1818 (1818-10-15) |
Died | 11 January 1891 (1891-01-12) (aged 72)
Vilna, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire
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Children | Dr. Benjamin Fuenn |
Writing career | |
Language | Hebrew |
Subject |
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Literary movement | Haskalah |
Notable works |
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Fuenn was born in Vilna, Russian Empire, the son of merchant and Torah scholar Yitsḥak Aizik Fuenn of Grodno.[8] Though he received a traditional religious education until the age of 17,[4] he also acquired an extensive general knowledge of German literature and other secular subjects, and became proficient in Russian, French, Latin, Polish, and English.[5] He afterwards joined Vilna's circle of young maskilim.[9]
In 1848 the government appointed him teacher of Hebrew and Jewish history in the newly founded rabbinical school of Vilna.[10] Fuenn filled this position with great distinction till 1856, when he resigned. The government then appointed him superintendent of the Jewish public schools in the district of Vilna,[11] in which he introduced instruction in secular studies and modern languages.[1] Since Fuenn (Russian финѣ) was employed in the Russian civil service, there was a special feature for him as a Jew, he had to legally sign in Russian according to the applicable Russian laws. Excerpt from the text of the law § 6 The Jew of the Russian Empire in translation: "The use of the Jewish language is not permitted in legal transactions. However, Hebrew home wills are permissible. If a Jew who does not speak any language other than Jewish, a document written or signed in Hebrew must be accompanied by a translation and the signature duly notarized.[12][13]
He was a prolific writer, devoting his activity mainly to the fields of history and literature.[1] With Eliezer Lipman Hurwitz he edited the short-lived Hebrew periodical Pirḥe tzafon ('Northern Flowers', 1841–43), a review of history, literature, and exegesis.[14] For twenty-one years (1860–81), he directed the paper Ha-Karmel ('The Carmel'; at first a weekly, but from 1871 a monthly), devoted to Hebrew literature and Jewish life, with supplements in Russian and German.[15] The paper contained many academic articles by the leading Jewish scholars of Europe, besides numerous contributions from Fuenn's own pen,[11] including a serialized autobiography entitled Dor ve-dorshav.[16] He opened a new Hebrew printing press in Vilna in 1863.[17]
Besides his scholarly work, Fuenn owned some property in Vilna, including a bathhouse on Zarechye Street.[18] He took an active part in the administration of the city and in its charitable institutions, and was for many years an alderman.[1] In acknowledgment of his services the government awarded him two medals.[5] He also presided over the third Ḥovevei Zion conference in Vilna, at which he, Samuel Mohilever, and Asher Ginzberg were chosen to direct the affairs of the delegate societies.[19]
Fuenn died in Vilna on 11 January 1891. He bequeathed his entire estate to his son, Dr. Benjamin Fuenn, his daughter having converted to Catholicism some years earlier.[18] After Benjamin's death, Fuenn's extensive library was added to the collection of the Strashun Library [he].[20]
Fuenn was married off by his parents at a young age. His first wife died in 1845 while their daughter was still a baby, and his second wife died in the 1848 cholera pandemic, shortly after giving birth to their son Benjamin. He married a third wife in 1851.[7]
His niece was the Labour Zionist politician Manya Shochat.[21]
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) A history of the Jews and Jewish literature from the destruction of the Temple to 1170.[23]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) A history of the Jews of Vilna, with an introduction by Mattityahu Strashun.[24]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) A history of the Jews and their literature, in two volumes (the first dealing with the period extending from the banishment of Jehoiachin to the death of Alexander the Great; the second from Alexander's death to the installation of Simon Maccabeus as high priest and prince).[23]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Selected letters of Hebrew stylists from Ḥasdai ibn Shaprut to modern times.[6]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) A fictional narrative based on people from the time of the Geonim, translated a German work of the same name by Lehmann.[6]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Hebrew translation of Moses Mendelssohn's Die Sache Gottes.[6]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Hebrew adaptation of Lehmann's Graf und Jude.[6]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Russian laws relating to conscription.[6]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) A Hebrew translation of a German novel by Philippson.[6]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)AHungarian village tale by Hurwitz, translated from German into Hebrew.[6]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Essay on the value and significance of the Hebrew language and literature in the development of culture among Russian Jews.[6]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Hebrew adaptation of Honigmann's Die Erbschaft.[6]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)AHebrew and Aramaic dictionary giving Russian and German equivalents for the words of the Bible, Mishnah, and Midrashim.[25]{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Biographical lexicon of notable Jews.[26]Fuenn left in manuscript form a treatise on Jewish law entitled Darkhei Hashem ('The Paths of God'), written as a response to Alexander McCaul anti-Jewish work The Old Paths.[27] Other unpublished works included Ha-moreh ba-emek ('The Teacher in the Valley'), a commentaryonMaimonides' Moreh nevukhim; Mishna berurah ('Clarified Teaching') and Ḥokhmat ḥakhamim ('Wisdom of the Sages'), commentaries on the Mishnah; Ha-Torah veha-zeman ('The Torah and Time'), on the evolution of laws and regulations; Sum sekhel, glosses on the Bible; Pirḥe Levanon ('Flowers of Lebanon'), a collection of verses; and Bein ha-perakim ('Between the Chapters'), a commentary on Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer.[20]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rosenthal, Herman; Broydé, Isaac (1903). "Fuenn, Samuel Joseph". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 526.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)