He was born at
Dubno,
Volhynia, then
Kingdom of Poland. When he was 14 years old his parents married him to the daughter of the
TalmudistSimhah ben Joshua of Volozhin. Having exhausted the knowledge of his Volhynian instructors, Dubno went to
Galicia, studying there for several years
Biblical exegesis and grammar under the direction of Rabbi
Solomon of Cholm. Dubno soon became proficient in these branches of Jewish science, and was charged by his master with the revision and publication of his work on the Hebrew accents, Sha'are Ne'imah (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1766).
From 1767 to 1772 Dubno lived at
Amsterdam, attracted by its rich collections of Hebrew books. On leaving Amsterdam he settled in
Berlin, earning a livelihood by teaching. Among his pupils was the son of
Moses Mendelssohn, who, highly appreciating Dubno's scholarship, became his patron and friend. Dubno wrote a commentary for Mendelssohn's translation of the book of Genesis. This was published in the first volume of Mendelssohn translation of the Pentateuch.[3]
In 1782–3, he spent about six months in
Wilno, living with the wealthy Jewish financier Joseph Pesseles. (He alludes to this in his work Birkath Yosef, published at Dyhernfurth, 1783.) After the death of Mendelssohn, Dubno stopped for a short time in
Frankfort-on-the-Main, and then returned to Amsterdam. There, at first fêted, and later ignored, deriving a scanty income from the loan of the books from his rich library, he remained until his death on June 26, 1813.
Other works
In addition to the works mentioned above, Dubno wrote the following:
Poems, appearing (p. 34) among those of Immanuel, published by Löb Wolf at Berlin, 1776; in the Bikkure To'elet (pp. 4, 114), published by the Anshe To'elet Society of Amsterdam; and in
Heidenheim's Sefer Ḳerobot.
Ebel Yaḥid, an elegy on the death of
Jacob Emden, published at Berlin, 1776.
A work on the geography of
Palestine, promised by him in his commentary on
Genesis, where he displayed a profound knowledge of the subject.
Luncz (Jerusalem, 1892, pp. 137 et seq.) identifies this work with the Ahabat Ẓiyyon of Dubno's father-in-law, Simḥah ben Joshua, but as this is a mere plagiarism from the
Karaite Samuel ben David's story of his voyage to Palestine, published in
Gurland's Ginze Yisrael, it is probable that
Lehren (Catalogue, p. 247) is right in doubting the identification.
Reshimah (Register), catalogue of his library, published at Amsterdam, 1814. It contains 2,076 printed works and 106 manuscripts.
Dubno left a great number of essays, poems, etc., which are still extant in manuscript.