Samuel Joseph Fuenn

The Vilna-born Samuel Joseph (Shemu’el Yosef) Fuenn was a leader of the Haskalah in Russia. Fuenn received a traditional Jewish education but was also educated in secular subjects, such as modern literature and foreign languages. As a maskil, he pushed for reforms in education and in rabbinical leadership among Russian Jews, a stance that had the support of the government. Upon the opening of the state-run Vilna Rabbinical Seminary in 1848, Fuenn was appointed to teach Jewish studies. In 1856, he resigned from that position and became the superintendent of Jewish government schools in the Vilna district; he was also the Vilna government’s chief adviser on Jewish affairs. From 1860, he edited Ha-karmel, a Hebrew-language weekly (from 1871, a monthly) with a Russian supplement.