Ketubah
The ketubah
is the marriage contract presented by the bridegroom to the bride as a legal agreement covering his obligations and responsibilities to her.
A full orthodox Aramaic ketubah I designed and wrote for a wedding in Neve Ilan outside Jerusalem using the chupa (canopy) as the motif.
A full orthodox Aramaic ketubah I designed and wrote for a wedding in Neve Ilan outside Jerusalem using the chupa (canopy) as the motif.
The early rabbis instituted it to protect the wife from a husband divorcing her for any reason - even if she burnt the soup! Whilst it is not sacred, it is nonetheless a binding contract which must have certain details concerning the time and date and place of the marriage, reference to the dowry and should be signed by two valid witnesses.
It is usually read out in full at the wedding under the chupa (canopy). The orthodox text is written in Aramaic (see above) whilst a shorter more egalitarian Hebrew text is favoured by the Progressive movements.
Left is a ketubah I completed for a 2006 wedding which was written on k’laf to a dove design I had originally used in a siddur for my son’s school that I had designed. It was the first time I had drawn on parchment with a quill - quite a challenge!
It is usually read out in full at the wedding under the chupa (canopy). The orthodox text is written in Aramaic (see above) whilst a shorter more egalitarian Hebrew text is favoured by the Progressive movements.
Left is a ketubah I completed for a 2006 wedding which was written on k’laf to a dove design I had originally used in a siddur for my son’s school that I had designed. It was the first time I had drawn on parchment with a quill - quite a challenge!
Whilst there are masses of rules governing the other scribal documents, there is considerable freedom with ketubot, as they may be written by anyone (male or female, on any permanent kind of material, parchment, vellum, fine-papers, fabric, glass, stone or wood and do not have to be hand written but can be printed. Moreover they have been a source of Jewish art through the ages as they are generally embellished with designs and motifs and a personalised hand-drawn ketubah
is a much prized possession.
Above right: I designed this ketubah for my sister’s wedding using images of Jerusalem. It uses an amended Reform text in Hebrew.
One key rule is that the text of the ketubah must be word-perfect without any errors, or breaks in the wrong places. Letters must not touch each-other and must be entirely legible.
OLD HARRY'S KETUBAH
AVIELAH'S KETUBAH GALLERY
One key rule is that the text of the ketubah must be word-perfect without any errors, or breaks in the wrong places. Letters must not touch each-other and must be entirely legible.
Therefore whilst a calligrapher may be able to turn their hand to a ketubah, someone with a working knowledge of Hebrew is preferred. Also, the witnesses must sign one signature above the other like the much stricture Get (divorce document) and not side by side.
I am open to ketubah
commissions. However, should I be otherwise engaged repairing sifrey
or writing, my wife soferet
Avielah Barclay
is an excellent ketubah
artist and she is also available for commissions. She is also much better at English calligraphy than I (you can see that all my ones above are Hebrew/Aramaic only)! If you would like a special ketubah
for your special day, please drop me a line and one of us can give you a quote. This will generally vary based on length of text. Hebrew/Aramaic only or with English, size of the work, materials required and whether illumination is required. Click below to see a gallery of some her excellent k'tubot.
Also a special page showing how I did a personalised ketubah
from start to finish featuring Old Harry Rocks a geological formation in Poole.
