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Samuel Joseph Fuenn
Jewish scholar From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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]
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Biography
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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.[20]
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Personal life
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]
Work
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Publications
- Imre emet [True Remarks]. Vilna. 1841. Two lectures (one delivered by the author; the other translated from German).[1]
- Shenot dor va-dor [Years of Generations] (PDF). Königsberg. 1847. Chronology of Biblical history.[1]
- Fuenn, Samuel Joseph (1847). Talmud leshon Rusyah [Learning the Language of Russia] (in Yiddish). Vilna. A Russian language textbook.[22]
- Nidḥe Yisrael [Exiles of Israel]. Vilna. 1850. hdl:2027/uc1.a0001234624.
{{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] - Kiryah ne'emanah [The Faithful City]. Vilna. 1860. hdl:2027/hvd.32044012709903.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) A history of the Jews of Vilna, with an introduction by Mattityahu Strashun.[24] - Divre ha-yamim li-vene Yisrael [History of the Children of Israel]. Vilna. 1871–77. hdl:2027/hvd.32044014489801.
{{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] - Sofre Yisrael [Writers of Israel]. Vilna. 1871. hdl:2027/uc1.b4213434.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Selected letters of Hebrew stylists from Ḥasdai ibn Shaprut to modern times.[6] - Bustanai [Bostanai]. 880-03Bustinaĭ. Vilna. 1872. hdl:2027/uc1.g0001601632.
{{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] - Ma'amar 'al ha-hashgaḥah [Treatise on Providence]. Vilna. 1872.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Hebrew translation of Moses Mendelssohn's Die Sache Gottes.[6] - Ha-ḥilluf [The Exchange] (PDF). Vilna. 1873.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Hebrew adaptation of Lehmann's Graf und Jude.[6] - Ḥukke 'avodat ha-tsava [Military Labour Laws]. Ḥuḳat ha-tsava ha-ḥadashah. Vilna. 1874. hdl:2027/hvd.32044102322211.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Russian laws relating to conscription.[6] - Ya'akov Tirado [Jacob Tirado]. Jakob Tirado.Hebrew. Vilna. 1874. hdl:2027/hvd.hwmnnz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) A Hebrew translation of a German novel by Philippson.[6] - Ha-tefillin [The Phylacteries]. Vilna. 1874. hdl:2027/uc1.$b154289.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) A Hungarian village tale by Hurwitz, translated from German into Hebrew.[6] - "Le-toledot R. Sa'adyah Gaon" [Materials for the Biography of Saadia Gaon]. Ha-Karmel. 2. 1871.
- "Ḥakhme Yisrael bi-Krim ve-gedole Yisrael be-Turkiya" [Jewish Scholars in Crimea and Turkey]. Ha-Karmel. 1861. Biographies of notable Jews of Crimea and Turkey in the 14th–15th centuries.[6]
- Safah le-ne'emanim [Language for the Faithful]. Vilna. 1881. hdl:2027/uc1.a0000013862.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Essay on the value and significance of the Hebrew language and literature in the development of culture among Russian Jews.[6] - Ha-yerushshah [The Inheritance]. Vilna. 1884.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Hebrew adaptation of Honigmann's Die Erbschaft.[6] - Ha-otsar [The Treasury]. Vol. 1. Warsaw. 1884. hdl:2027/uc1.$b109423.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) A Hebrew and Aramaic dictionary giving Russian and German equivalents for the words of the Bible, Mishnah, and Midrashim.[25] - Keneset Yisrael [Assembly of Israel]. Vol. 1. Warsaw. 1886–90. hdl:2027/hvd.hnrlr2.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Biographical lexicon of notable Jews.[26]
Unpublished work
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 commentary on Maimonides' 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]
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External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Samuel Joseph Fuenn.
- Works by Fuenn at the Ben-Yehuda Project
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References
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