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Samuel Joseph Fuenn

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Jewish scholar
Samuel Joseph Fuenn
Born15 October 1818 (1818-10-15)
Vilna, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire
Died11 January 1891 (1891-01-12) (aged 72)
Vilna, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire
ChildrenDr. Benjamin Fuenn
Writing career
LanguageHebrew
Subject
Literary movementHaskalah
Notable works
  • Kiryah ne'emanah (1860)
  • Safah le-ne'emanim (1881)
  • Ha-otsar (1884)
Signature

Samuel Joseph Fuenn (Hebrew: שמואל יוסף פין, romanized: Shmuel Yosef Fin; 15 October 1818 – 11 January 1891), 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.

Biography

Fuenn was born in Vilna, Russian Empire, the son of merchant and Torah scholar Yitsḥak Aizik Fuenn of Grodno. Though he received a traditional religious education until the age of 17, he also acquired an extensive general knowledge of German literature and other secular subjects, and became proficient in Russian, French, Latin, Polish, and English. He afterwards joined Vilna's circle of young maskilim.

In 1848 the government appointed him teacher of Hebrew and Jewish history in the newly founded rabbinical school of Vilna. 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, in which he introduced instruction in secular studies and modern languages. 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.

He was a prolific writer, devoting his activity mainly to the fields of history and literature. With Eliezer Lipman Hurwitz he edited the short-lived Hebrew periodical Pirḥe tzafon ('Northern Flowers', 1841–43), a review of history, literature, and exegesis. 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. The paper contained many academic articles by the leading Jewish scholars of Europe, besides numerous contributions from Fuenn's own pen, including a serialized autobiography entitled Dor ve-dorshav. He opened a new Hebrew printing press in Vilna in 1863.

Besides his scholarly work, Fuenn owned some property in Vilna, including a bathhouse on Zarechye Street. He took an active part in the administration of the city and in its charitable institutions, and was for many years an alderman. In acknowledgment of his services the government awarded him two medals. 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.

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. After Benjamin's death, Fuenn's extensive library was added to the collection of the Strashun Library [he].

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.

His niece was the Labour Zionist politician Manya Shochat.

Work

Publications

Title page of Ha-otsar (1903 edition)
Samuel Joseph Finn's (Russian финѣ) Russian signature

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. 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.

External links

Notes

  1. While some sources list his date of birth as September or October 1819,, Fuenn in his autobiography writes that he was born in Vilna on 15 Tishri 5578 (25 September 1817) or 5579 (15 October 1818). Sokolow and Zeitlin agree he was born on 15 Tishri 5579.

References

 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.

  1. ^  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.
  2. Reisen, Zalman (1929). "Fin, Shmuel Yosef". Leksikon fun der yidisher literatur, prese, un filologye (in Yiddish). Vol. 3. Vilna: B. Kletskin. pp. 74–75.
  3. Fuenn, Samuel Joseph (1879). Fuenn, S. J. (ed.). "Dor ve-dorshav". Ha-Karmel (in Hebrew). 4. Vilna: Avraham Tzvi Katzenellenbogen: 9–15, 73–80, 193–201, 259–266, 331–338, 461–471.
  4. ^ Sokolow, Naḥum (1889). Sefer zikaron le-sofrei Israel ha-ḥayim itanu ka-yom [Memoir Book of Contemporary Jewish Writers] (in Hebrew). Warsaw. pp. 86–87.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Sokolow, Naḥum, ed. (1894). "R. Shmuel Yosef Fin". Ha-Asif (in Hebrew). 6 (1). Warsaw: Isaac Goldman: 141, 174–176.
  6. ^ Zeitlin, William (1890). Bibliotheca hebraica post-Mendelssohniana (in German). Leipzig: K. F. Koehler's Antiquarium. pp. 101–105, 468.
  7. ^ Feiner, Shmuel (2008). "Fuenn, Shemu'el Yosef". In Hundert, Gershon (ed.). YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Translated by Fachler, David. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  8. Markon, Ḥayyim Leib (1887). Rabinowitz, Saul Pinchas (ed.). "Dor ve-dorshav: ha-rav ha-gadol veha-ḥakham Rabbi Shmuel Yosef Fin mi-Vilna". Keneset Yisrael (in Hebrew). 1. Warsaw: Yosef Unterhendler: 8–15.
  9. Slutsky, Yehuda (2007). "Fuenn, Samuel Joseph". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 7 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. p. 305–306. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4. Gale CX2587506930.
  10. "Rabbi Shmuel Yosef Fin z"l". Ha-Or (in Hebrew). 7 (13): 1. 16 January 1891.
  11. ^ Waxman, Meyer (1960). A History of Jewish Literature. History of Jewish literature from the close of the Bible to our own days. Vol. III. New York: Thomas Yoseloff. pp. 337–338.
  12. "Series I: Rabbinical School (p. 3)" (PDF). The Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections. The Edward Blank YIVO. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  13. Leuthold, C. F. (1999). Russische Rechtskunde Systematische Darstell und des in Russland geltenden, Privat-, Handels- und Strafrechts, sowie des Prozesses. Verlag von Dnker & Humblot Leipzig 1889. p. 45.
  14. Friedlander, I. (1918). History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, from the Earliest Times Until the Present Day. Vol. II. Translated by Dubnow, S. M. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America. pp. 136, 217.
  15. "HaCarmel". Historical Jewish Press. National Library of Israel. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  16. Alkoshi, Gedalia (1959). "Shmuel Yosef Fin". In Goren, Natan; et al. (eds.). Yahadut Lita [Lithuanian Jewry] (in Hebrew). Vol. 1. Tel Aviv: Hotsaʼat Am ha-sefer. pp. 438–341.
  17. Финн, Шмуэль Иосеф [Finn, Shmuel Yosef]. Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia (in Russian). Vol. 9. Jerusalem: Society for Research on Jewish Communities. 1999. pp. 187–189. Archived from the original on 30 October 2021.
  18. ^ Abramowicz, Hirsz (1999). Abramowicz, Dina; Shandler, Jeffrey (eds.). Profiles of a Lost World: Memoirs of East European Jewish Life Before World War II. Translated by Dobkin, Eva Zeitlin. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 223–225. ISBN 0814327842.
  19. Baroway, Aaron (1918). "Samuel Mohilewer". Kadimah. New York: Federation of American Zionists: 181–182.
  20. ^ Zinberg, Israel (1913). "Финн, Самуил Иосиф"  [Finn, Samuel Joseph]. In Katznelson, J. L. (ed.). Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron (in Russian). Vol. 15. St. Petersburg: Brockhaus & Efron. pp. 284–287.
  21. Appel, Tamar Kaplan (31 December 1999). "Mania Wilbushewitch Shochat, 1880–1961". Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  22. Kahan, Yankev (29 October 2018). "Shmuel-Yoysef Fin (S. J. Fuenn)". Yiddish Leksikon. Translated by Fogel, Joshua. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  23. ^ Eisenstein, Judah David, ed. (1912). Otsar Yisraʼel [Treasury of Israel]. Oẓar Yisrael :an Encyclopedia of all matters concerning Jews and Judaism (in Yiddish). Vol. 8. New York: J. D. Eisenstein. pp. 246–247.
  24. Greenbaum, Avraham (March 1993). "The beginnings of Jewish historiography in Russia". Jewish History. 7 (1): 99–105. doi:10.1007/BF01674497. JSTOR 20101146. S2CID 159491930.
  25. Winter, Jakob; Wünsche, August (1896). Die jüdische Literatur seit Abschluss des Kanons: Eine prosaische und poetische Anthologie mit biographischen und literageschichtlichen Einleitungen (in German). Vol. 3. Berlin: Sigmund Mayer. pp. 753, 853, 855, 877–878, 898.
  26. M. P. (19 October 1887). "Shmuel Yosef Fin (1847–1887)". Ha-Yom (in Hebrew). 2 (214): 2–3.
  27. Stern, Eliyahu (2017). "Paul in the Jerusalem of Lithuania: Samuel Joseph Fuenn's Paths of God". Talmudic Transgressions. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism. 181: 407–417. doi:10.1163/9789004345331_016. ISBN 9789004345331.
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