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a medical work by Dunash, and there are other references to
a “Book on Urine” as well.
The commentary on the Sefer Yeẓirah, mentioned above,
was written in 955/6. Attempts made to attribute this work to
Isaac Israeli or Jacob b. Nissim may be disregarded. To date,
the Cairo Genizah has yielded only about one-third of the
Arabic original of this text; it has been preserved fully in four
Hebrew versions: the first by Nahum ha-Ma’aravi (c. 1240);
the second by Moses b. Joseph b. Moses (somewhat earlier),
based on the complete Arabic editions; the third by an anonymous
author, probably of the 14th century, from a shorter Arabic
text of perhaps the mid-11th century; and the fourth by
another anonymous author of unknown date, from an Arabic
abridgment, possibly of 1092.
Dunash’s exegetical method in Sefer Yeẓirah is scientific.
He succeeded in incorporating in his commentary much of
the knowledge of his day without losing sight of the influence
of philosophic and scientific truths on religion. He dealt
with such truths as an incorporeal God, creator of a perfectly
regulated universe, a hierarchy of souls of the spheres, and
prophetic inspiration, said to coincide in its highest degree,
as in the case of Moses, with Plotinian ecstasy. Dunash did
not hesitate to criticize *Saadiah Gaon’s commentary on the
Sefer Yeẓirah; however, these criticisms have been attenuated
or suppressed in some of the Hebrew versions. Dunash’s
commentary enjoyed some renown in the 12th century when
*Judah b. Barzillai, Joseph ibn *Ẓaddik, and perhaps *Judah
Halevi made use of it. It is mentioned several times in the 13th
century, particularly by Abraham *Abulafia; it was copied with
slight alterations c. 1370 by Samuel ibn Motot, and traces of
it are found among 15th-century authors, such as Ẓemaḥ Duran,
Isaac Halayo (unpublished sermons on the Song of Songs,
Paris, Ms. Heb. 228), and *Moses b. Jacob (Oẓar Adonai, Oxford,
Bodleian Library, Ms. Opp. 556). However, Dunash’s
work, like that of Isaac Israeli, his teacher, played only a secondary
role in the history of Jewish thought.
Bibliography: Poznański, in: Zikkaron le-Harkavy (1903),
190–2; H. Malter, Saadia Gaon, His Life and Works (1921), index; Vajda,
in: REJ, 105 (1939), 132–140; 107 (1946–47), 99–156; 110 (1949–50),
67–92; 112 (1953), 5–33; 113 (1954), 37–61; 119 (1961), 159–61; Goldziher,
ibid., 52 (1906), 187–90; G. Vajda, in: Annuaire de l’Institut de Philologie
et d’Histoire Orientale et Slaves, 13 (1953), 641–52; Stern, in: Homenaje
a Millás Vallicrosa, 2 (1956), 373–82 (Eng.); A. Altmann and S.M.
Stern (eds.), Isaac Israeli (1958), index; Baron, Social2, index.
[Georges Vajda]
DUNAYEVSKI, ISAAC OSIPOVICH (1900–1955), Soviet
Russian composer. Born at Lokhvitsa, near Poltava, Ukraine,
he began to learn the piano at the age of four and studied at
the Kharkov Conservatory, with Joseph *Achron. In 1919 he
settled in Leningrad. Dunayevski was one of the leading popular
composers of Soviet Russia, and in 1937 was made president
of the Union of Soviet Composers. His works include light operas,
dance music, songs, choruses, and incidental music to
plays and films, as well as a string quartet, a Song of Stalin for
dunedin
chorus and orchestra, a Requiem for reciter and quintet, and
one work for jazz orchestra, the Rhapsody on Song-Themes of
the Peoples of the U.S.S.R. (1931). Among his operettas were
The Golden Valley (1934) and The Road to Happiness (1939).
His 12 scores for films include Circus (1935) and Volga-Volga
(1938) which made a permanent contribution to Soviet popular
song. For a time after 1933 he experimented with jazz idioms.
He was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941. Dunayevski died
in Moscow, and the collection Vystupleniya, statyi, pisma, vospominaniya
(“Appearances, Articles, Letters, Memoirs”) was
published posthumously in 1961.
Bibliography: L. Danilevich, I.O. Dunayevski (1947); I.
Nestyev, in: Sovetskaya Muzyka, 19: 11 (1955), 35–48; L.V. Mikheyeva,
I.O. Dunayevski, 1900–1955: kratki ocherk zhizni i tvorchestva (1963).
DUNAYEVTSY, town in Khmelnitski district, Ukraine. The
Jewish community numbered 1,129 in 1765, but by 1775 was
reduced to 484 as a result of the *Haidamak uprising of 1768.
From the beginning of the 19th century many Jews found employment
as workers, dyers, and traders in the flourishing textile
industry there. Dunayevtsy was the scene of a trial lasting
from 1838 to 1840 in which a number of Jews were accused
of the murder of two informers. The Jewish population numbered
2,020 in 1847 and approximately 10,000 before the outbreak
of World War I (about two-thirds of the total population).
Dunayevtsy became known as a center of Hebrew and
Zionist literary and educational activity. The scholars and
writers Yeḥezkel *Kaufmann, Ẓevi *Scharfstein, S.L. *Blank,
and Abraham *Rosen were born and educated there. After the
establishment of Soviet rule the town became impoverished.
Many Jews immigrated or moved to the cities of the Russian
interior. There were 5,186 Jews in Dunayevtsy in 1926 (60.5%
of the total), dropping to 4,478 (68.23% of the total) before
World War II. The Germans occupied Dunayevtsy on July
11, 1941. They concentrated the Jews into a ghetto. On May 2,
1942, about 3,000 were murdered by the Nazis.
Bibliography: Kamenetz-Podolsk u-Sevivatah (1965), 103–52;
Z. Scharfstein, Hayah Aviv ba-Areẓ (1953), 11–163.
[Yehuda Slutsky]
DUNEDIN, city in Otago, New Zealand. Five Jewish families
had settled in Dunedin, the most southern Jewish community
in the world, before the discovery of gold in Otago in 1861. In
1862, the congregation had a membership of 43, including the
poet and novelist Benjamin *Farjeon. Jacob *Saphir of Jerusalem,
then visiting Dunedin, wrote a megillah for reading on
Purim. The first synagogue was consecrated in 1864. A number
of congregational activities were initiated while B. Lichenstein
was minister, from 1875 to 1892. A synagogue was built in 1881.
From 1884 D.E. Theomin headed the community for almost
30 years. Wolf Heinemann, professor and examiner in German
and Hebrew at Otago University from 1895, lectured in
the synagogue and founded the Dunedin Zionist Society in
1905. Other ministers included A.T. Chodowski, who offici-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 49