kulah

Pronunciations

kulah (KOO-luh) listen
kulos (KOO-luhz)

Definitions

  • n. A lenient ruling or measure.

  • n. A loophole.

Example Sentences

  • "As we have seen, a kula is a non-chumra."(source)

  • "He lived his life by so many kulos that most people didn't even know that he was frum." (Weiser)

    Listen to recordings of this sentence: ( Recording 1)
  • "I had a chance to talk with Rabbi Cohen. He is a mumche in hilchos kashrus. He himself doesn't even eat meat with an OU supervision due to the kulas they follow." (source)

Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • קולא kula 'leniency' > Y קולא kule

    • Who Uses This

      • Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education

      Regions

      • North America
      • Australia / New Zealand
      • South Africa

      Dictionaries

      • Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish, by Chaim Weiser (Northvale, 1995).
      • Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).

      Alternative Spellings

      kula, koolah, kuloh, kooloh, kuleh, kooleh, cooleh, cooloh, coolah, koola, kulo, koolo, kula, koole, coole, coolo, coola, kule, kuleh, kuleh

Notes

  • plural: 'kulas' or 'kulot'

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