David Kohn (1838–1915) was a Russian archaeologist and Hebrew writer. He was born at

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

and received a

rabbinic Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...

education, but at the age of fourteen he took up the study of medieval literature and modern languages, and soon afterward, history and archaeology. Some of his early writings included essays on fossil animals, the life of Rabbi Solomon Bennet, the Messianic movement, and the origin of

Hasidism Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a Spirituality, spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most ...

. He also contributed to "

Ha-Shiloaḥ ''Ha-Shiloaḥ'' () was a Hebrew language, Hebrew-language literary journal, founded by Ahad Ha'am and the Ahi'asaf Publishing House in 1896. He edited the journal until December 1902, whereupon it came under the editorship of historian Joseph Kla ...

." Kohn was editor of the Aḥiasaf edition of

Abraham ibn Ezra Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (, often abbreviated as ; ''Ibrāhim al-Mājid ibn Ezra''; also known as Abenezra or simply ibn Ezra, 1089 / 1092 – 27 January 1164 / 23 January 1167)''Jewish Encyclopedia''online; '' Chambers Biographical Dictionar ...

's "Diwan" (1894), as well as of

Jacob Emden Jacob Emden, also known as the Yaʿavetz (June 4, 1697 – April 19, 1776), was a leading German rabbi and talmudist who championed traditional Judaism in the face of the growing influence of the Sabbatean movement. He was widely acclaimed for ...

's autobiography and various other important works. He was also the first to attack

Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was a German exegete and one of the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (no ...

's criticism of the Biblical text, and to defend the Masorah. Besides the works already mentioned, he published: ''Meḥḳere Ḳohelet ben Dawid'', a historico-critical introduction to the Book of Ecclesiastes; ''Masoret Seyag le-Miḳra'', in defense of the Masorah against the hypercriticism of modern exegetes (1880); and ''Or we-Ḥoshek''.

Edition of Ben Sira

In Odessa he made an edition of the discovered Hebrew Text of the Wisdom Book of Ben Sira in Hebrew with introduction, a good reconstruction of the lost parts and vocalisation of the whole text, *Dawid Kohn
''Die Sprüche Simon des Sohnes Sirachs. Der gefundene hebräische Text mit Einleitung und Kommentar.''
Verlag "Tuschlija", Warschau, 1912

References

* 1838 births 1915 deaths 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire {{Russia-bio-stub