Ketubah

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This article is about Jewish marriage contracts. For the Tractate Ketubot in Nashim, see Nashim.

A ketubah is a Jewish marriage contract. It states that the husband commits to provide food, clothing and companionship to his wife, and that he will pay a specified sum of money if he divorces her. If he dies and leaves her as a widow, she can collect the Ketubah money from his estate.

The Ketubah is not part of kiddushin, the actual Jewish marriage ceremony. However, the groom and bride may not engage in marital relations as a consequence of nissuin (the second part of the marriage ceremony) unless two valid witnesses have signed a Ketubah.

Ketubot (the plural for ketubah) have many different styles of language and designs, depending on the beliefs and traditions of the couple. Traditionally, the language of the ketubah formalises the various requirements by the Torah of a Jewish husband vis à vis his wife (e.g. giving her adequate resources for dress, sexual intercourse), and stipulates the sum to be paid by him in case of divorce, which is 200 Zuz (a Talmudic currency) - generally considered the sum to support oneself financially for a full year.

A traditional ketubah (used by Orthodox Jews and Conservative Jews) is written in Aramaic. Conservative Jews often include an additional paragraph, called the Lieberman Clause, which stipulates that divorce will be adjudicated by a modern rabbinic court in order to prevent the problem of the agunah. Reform Jews and interfaith couples often opt for more egalitarian language, similar in tone to marriage vows, which stress the values on which they base their relationship and marriage (love, companionship, family, tradition, etc.). Many times a traditional text will be accompanied by a more creative, poetic and egalitarian rendition in English. Because there is a variety of available texts, betrothed couples often consult their rabbi or wedding officiant in order to determine which ketubah text is right for them.

A recent flourishing of non-standard ketubah texts have provided more specialized options for marrying couples, from Aryeh Cohen's Conservative Egalitarian Aramaic Text to Rachel Adler's Brit Ahuvim/Ahuvot ~ Lover's Covenant written in Modern Hebrew, Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi's Renewal Text and numerous other Interfaith, Same Gender, Secular Humanist or individually crafted commitment texts.

The ketubah is one of the predominant forms of Jewish art, or judaica, found in the home. Ketubot are often hung prominently in the home by the married couple as a daily reminder of their vows and responsibilities to each other. Ketubot have been made in a wide range of designs, usually following the tastes and styles of the era and region in which they are made. Many couples follow the Jewish tradition of hiddur mitzvah which calls for ceremonial objects such as the ketubah to be made as beautiful as possible. They choose a design which reflects both their artistic tastes and their feelings about marriage. Many designs incorporate religious or secular symbolism, such as the Tree of Life, the Star of David, Jerusalem, or images from nature.