Over the years, the Fake Ad Czar has been called many things. Devious. Unfair. Lanky. And his favorite, clever. Until this month, however, he’d never been called a theological scholar.
That changed with Marty Pernick’s entry. Pernick was one of 123 who correctly identified the Fake Ad for Temple Kulam on page 84 of the June Observer, with the last name of last month’s winner, Maddi Shulman, hidden in the text.
“Shul of course is Yiddish for synagogue,” Pernick writes. “Same root as school. Kulam is a term in the Hebrew liturgy usually translated as ‘these things’ following a list of things such as the list of blessings received or the list of sins to be atoned for. The concept that obedience to God creates true freedom is shared in many religions, however the cited passage from the book of Samuel only refers to the organizational structure of King David’s army. The fake ad czar is a theological scholar, who knew?”
A few Fake Adders pointed out that “kulam” is also a term used in Filipino witchcraft. And Lakshmi Narayanan noted that in her “mother tongue Malayalam … ‘kulam’ is a bathing pond built in the premises of a temple or old farm houses in the countryside in many parts of India.” Even a theological scholar such as the Czar has to marvel at the breadth of knowledge in our fair city.
This month’s winner was Alicia MacLean. She’s taking her gift certificate to Arbor Farms Market.
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To enter this month’s contest, find the Fake Ad in the July issue and follow the instructions in the box at the bottom of the Back Page. The Fake Ad always contains the name of last month’s winner in some form.
