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Ketubah – The
Jewish Contract of Marriage
A Ketubah (spelt in several different ways like: Katuba,
kattubah, katubah, kituba, ktuba, ketuba, kettubah, and in
plural ketubahs, kitubot, katubot, and ketubot) is the Jewish
Contract of Marriage, which describes the fundamental
material, marital and moral duties of the husband towards his
wife. In the absence of a Ketubah, Jewish couples are not
allowed to live together. In case the Ketubah is missing, then
a fresh one must be drawn up.
The term "Ketubah" is derived from Kaf-Tav-Beit, which denotes
"writing." Now the Ketubah is referred to as the marriage
contract as well. The Ketubah elucidates on the husband's
marital commitments to his wife, terms of inheritance on his
demise, and responsibilities pertaining to child maintenance
in a marriage. Besides, it makes provisions for the wife's
maintenance in case of a divorce. There are accepted
provisions; nonetheless, further stipulations can be added by
mutual consent. The rationale behind the Ketubah is the
safeguarding of the rights of a woman in a marriage and if she
is widowed or divorced. In historical terms, the Ketubah
reflected a significant advancement in the belief regarding
women’s rights.
According to the Jewish line of thinking, marriage is a
binding pact between two persons with legal privileges and
responsibilities. Most people are amazed when they come to
know that the time-honored Ketuba is no romantic writing on
the love between a man and a woman or the setting up of a
Jewish residence and starting a family. Now, what the Ketubah
covers is the location and date of marriage, the bride’s and
groom’s name (as well as their respective fathers’ names) as
well as the bridal price. Next, it lists out the trousseau
brought by the woman to the marriage and which the groom
consents to meet as additional amount. The groom accedes that
his entire property, whether personal or real, including the
shirt on his back, will be mortgaged to acquire the amount of
the marriage contract, plus the trousseau, and the additions
included, in his lifetime and following his death. The
signatures of two witnesses, who are not related to either of
the parties, are obtained to legalize this Jewish marriage
contract. Now at the wedding ceremony, under the Chuppah,
pieces from the Ketubah are summarized and recited aloud.
The time-honored Ketubah procedure, written not in Hebrew but
in Aramaic, is even now made use of (and is the single one
officially acknowledged in Israel). Several other Ketubah
texts also exist. The Conservative movement renders the
marriage contact further reciprocal and includes a clause
wherein the groom consents to acquire a divorce decree to
enable the bride to remarry in a traditional Jewish wedding
ceremony. Besides, there are several classless Ketubah texts
that the Reform movement avails of, including Sephardic
Ketubah texts and Reconstructionist, dedication ceremonies and
remembrance anniversary Ketubot as well as interfaith marriage
Kettubah texts.
The Ketubah shares similar traits with prenuptial pacts that
are becoming very popular in America. In America, these kinds
of agreements were traditionally disapproved since it was
considered that making arrangements for divorce would promote
divorce, and also that people who took into account the
likelihood of divorce should not enter into a marriage. While
one rabbi conveys a similar belief in the Talmud, almost all
insisted that a Ketubah dissuades people from going in for a
divorce, by acting as a frequent indicator of the husband's
considerable financial commitments in case he divorces his
wife.
Now, the Ketubah is usually a stunning framed piece of
calligraphy. All through the Ketubah’s history, Jewish artists
have undoubtedly been inspired by the era in which they lived
and the creative practices of the country they worked in, and
this makes the Ketubah amongst the most visually brilliant
features of the Jewish wedding custom. A Ketubah is frequently
the initial work of art, which a couple purchases. It
represents the life that they will lead together and serves as
an heirloom to be bequeathed to the next generation. It has
become the established norm, at least from the 14th century
onwards, to make use of that exceptionally powerful ketubah
history and also the present-day art and design embellishing
the ketubah, in artwork and putting it up in homes as
souvenirs.
Source:
http://www.readycontracts.com |
