WOLF BEN JOSEPH OF DESSAU:
German scholar and author; born at Dessau in 1762; died there March 16, 1826. Left an orphan at an early age, he was educated by his father-in-law, Reb Gumpel; and in 1775 he lived with his uncle, Jacob Benscher, at Berlin, where he attended the communal school. He officiated as a teacher in Freienwalde-on-the-Oder from 1780 to 1782, was in Wriezen from 1782 to 1789, and lived in Sandersleben from 1789 to 1796, when he settled in Dessau, having been appointed tutor in the Herzog Franz Schule. At the same time he discharged the duties of secretary to the Jewish community of Dessau, and also officiated as preacher. Wolf was the author of the following works: "Minḥah Ṭehorah" (2 vols., Dessau, 1805), the Hebrew text of the Minor Prophets, with a German translation, and a Hebrew preface entitled "Solet la-Minḥah"; "Daniel" (ib. 1808), with the original text, a Hebrew commentary, and a German translation; a collection of sermons delivered in the synagogue, with a Hebrew translation (ib. 1812); "Shir" (ib. 1812), a eulogy on the Book of Esther, to which it was appended; a collection of sermons (ib. 1813); "Charakter des Judentums" (Leipsic, 1817), an apology written in collaboration with Gotthold Solomon; and "Yesode ha-Limmud" (Dessau, 1819), an elementary text-book of Hebrew, with a glossary. He was also a collaborator on the ninth and tenth volumes of "Ha-Meassef."
- P. Philippson, Biographische Skizzen, part ii., Leipsic, 1865;
- Benjacob, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, p. 339;
- Zunz, in the introduction to Asher's English translation of Benjamin of Tudela, p. 293, London, 1840;
- Busch, in Jahrbuch für Israeliten, vi. 93;
- Zunz, G. V. p. 460;
- Delitzsch, Zur Gesch. der Hebräischen Poesie, pp. 107-108;
- Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 2728-2729;
- Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. p. 423.
