Lamdan

{{short description|Man who is well informed in rabbinical literature}} '''Lamdan''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: למדן) is a late [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] expression for a man who is well informed in [[rabbinical]] literature, although not a scholar in the technical sense of the term - i.e. "[[talmid hakham]]"; it does not seem to have been used before the 18th century. *[[Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen]] (1670-1749) decided that rabbinical scholars were exempt from paying [[tax]]es even though scholars then were not scholars in the proper sense of the word, "for the law does not make a difference between lamdan and lamdan".<ref>Resp. "Keneset Yechezkel," Choshen Mishpat, No. 95, p. 118a, Altona, 1732</ref> *[[Jacob Emden]]<ref>"Megillat Sefer," p. 21, Warsaw, 1896</ref> speaks of [[Baer Kohen]] (Berent Salomon), the founder of the Klaus in [[Hamburg]], as having been somewhat of a scholar ("ketzat lamdan," the equivalent of the [[Yiddish]] "ein stückel lamden"). *Authorities of the sixteenth century, when they have to speak of the difference between a scholar in the technical sense of the word and a well-informed man, do not use the term "lamdan," but say "tzurba me-rabbanan", צורְבָא מֵרָבּנן, literally "enflamed from [[Rabbinic literature]]".<ref>see [[Joshua Falk]] ha-Kohen in "Sefer Me'irat 'Enayim," Choshen Mishpat, 15, 4; Shabbethai ha-Kohen, ib. 1, 19, and Yoreh De'ah, 244, 11</ref>

==People== Lamdan has also been adopted as a Jewish surname: * [[Yitzhak Lamdan]]

==References== *{{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=24&letter=L|article=Lamden}} {{Reflist|30em}}

[[Category:Orthodox rabbinic roles and titles]]