FAHN, REUBEN

FAHN, REUBEN (1878–1939?), Hebrew writer and investigator of Karaism. Born in eastern Galicia, he became a prosperous merchant in Halicz and developed an interest in the town's Karaites. He settled in Stanislav in 1918 and became secretary of the National Council of Galician Jewry in the short-lived West Ukrainian Republic (1918–19). On the outbreak   of World War II he was put on trial by the Russians for Zionist activities and taken to Russia where he disappeared without trace. A regular contributor to the Hebrew press from his youth, Fahn wrote poetry, articles, and stories, particularly on the Karaites, and studies of Haskalah literature. Two volumes of his collected works were published: Sefer ha-Kara'im (1929) and Pirkei Haskalah (1937). A book of his essays, Massot, appeared in Jerusalem in 1943 (preface by Dov Sadan). His Mivḥar Ketavim (selected works), ed. by N. Govrin, appeared in 1969. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Genazim, 1 (1961), 115–8, includes bibliography; Kressel, Leksikon, 2 (1967), 571f.; Arim ve-Immahot be-Yisrael; Stanislav, 5 (1952), S.V. (Getzel Kressel)