Funn, Samuel Joseph

(1818-90)

   Lithuanian Hebrew writer. He was born in Vilna and was a founder of the first Jewish school in the city. He taught the Bible and Hebrew there, and later taught at the local rabbinical school. In 1856 he was appointed inspector of the government Jewish schools in the Vilna district. In 1863 he opened a printing press in Vilna, which enabled him to publish Ha-Karmel, a journal which he edited and to which he contributed studies of Russian Jewry. He wrote a biographical lexicon of notable Jews and a Hebrew dictionary.