DUBNO, SOLOMON B. VOEL. This distin guished poet, geographer, grammarian, and com mentator was born October 12, 173S, at Dubno, whence he derived his name. Attracted by the great reformation in Judwism and in Hebrew literature which had just then commenced in Ger many, under the leadership of the immortal Men delssohn, Dubno left his native place early in life for the birthplace of modern Judwism. Being a thorough master of the Masson), he betook himself at the age of z6 to the editing of a work on the accents of Job, Proverbs, and the Psalms, written by Solomon ben Moses, who, because he was suc cessively chief Rabbi of Chelm, Lemberg, and Salonika, is also called Salomo Chclmo, or Salomo Lemberger, which Dubno published with notes in 1765, under the title of i'lryv Inyty, Pantie yucun ditatis, in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, of which a second edition appeared in 1777. The great object of promoting biblical literature, which both he and Mendelssohn had at heart, soon drew these two literati together, and in 1763 we find Dubno living in the house of Mendelssohn, and writing a Com mentary on the Pentateuch, which his colleague was translating. Ile, however, only wrote the n'[7\11 7v 11\n, Commentary on Genesis and Exodus, which was published in Berlin 1781-1783, then again in Vienna 1791, 1806, etc. ;
as he took some offence, and withdrew from the work, which obliged Mendelssohn to solicit the help of Hartwig, Weseley, Aaron Jaraslaw, and H. Hom berg, who finished the commentaryon the remaining portions of the Pentateuch [MENDELssomv]. About this time Dubno also wrote ;711 a Massoretie Commentary on Genesis and Exodus, which was printed with Mendelssohn's translation in 1831-33, and afterwards published the Geography of the Bible. His commentaries are distinguished for their brevity and good sense ; they abound in valuable linguistic remarks, Massoretic explana tions, and geographical information, as may be seen by a casual reference to any page. It was to be expected that with his vast erudition, great inde pendence of thought, and with a biblical library in his possession such as hardly ever fell to the lot of a private student in those days (he had lob MSS., and 2076 printed books, as may be seen from the catalogue of his books printed in Amsterdam 1814), that he would bring forth things new and old ; and he fully realized all such expectations. His He brew style is truly classical. Shortly after his separation from Mendelssohn, Dubno went to Amsterdam, where he died June 23, L313.— C. D. G.