FUENN, SAMUEL JOSEPH (1818–1890), Hebrew writer of the more traditional wing of the Russian Haskalah and an early member of Ḥovevei Zion. Fuenn, who was born in Vilna, received a traditional Jewish education, and afterward joined the circle of Haskalah supporters there. He was a founder of the first Jewish school in the city (1841) where he taught Bible and Hebrew. Together with L. Hurwitz he published the literary magazine Pirḥei Ẓafon (1841–44), the first such Hebrew work to appear in Russia. When the government rabbinical school opened in Vilna in 1847 he joined it as a teacher of Bible and Hebrew language. In 1856 he was appointed inspector of the government Jewish schools in the...