Jewish Studies Research Guide

The Art of the Ketubbah includes high-quality color photographs that document the rich variety of decorating and calligraphic styles used by Jewish communities to enhance the ancient text formulas they shared. These contracts reveal social customs, family relationships, economic situations, and a community's interactions with the world around it, spanning thirty-seven countries on four continents from the 10th through the 21st centuries. The catalogue includes 472 full entries, plus two addenda -- one of 50 more recently acquired ketubbot and the other of 45 ketubbot from the Cairo Genizah. About one-third of the ketubbot in the collection originate from Italy. The remaining two-thirds include those from elsewhere in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the United States. The earliest ketubbah in the catalogue is from Fustat, Egypt, dated 1023, while the latest is from New York, 2012. The high-quality color photographs, comprehensive indexes, and detailed scholarly commentary on each ketubbah in the collection make this catalog valuable to scholars and the general public alike.

"The custom of illuminating the traditional Jewish marriage contract, the ketubbah, developed over the last four centuries into a rich and varied form of Jewish folk art. This book offers a broad selection from one of the outstanding collections of ketubbot, representing Jewish communities from the Near East to Northern Europe. It focuses particularly on the ketubbot of Italy, where the art of the illuminated ketubbah found its most beautiful expression during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, under the influence of Renaissance and Baroque art." "Co-produced with the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, home to one of the largest collections of ketubbot, this book also offers a fascinating account of Jewish marriage customs and a vivid picture of diverse Jewish communities."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Epstein, Louis M. The Jewish Marriage Contract: A Study in the Status of the Woman in Jewish Law. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1927. xvii, 316 pp. Reprint available December, 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. 1-58477-464-9. Cloth. $85. * A cogent and compelling examination of the history and significance of the Jewish marriage contract, the Ketubah, with extensive notes in Hebrew and English. As Epstein notes in the preface, the Ketubah offers an excellent introduction to the character of Jewish marriage because it is not a sentimental, rhetorical or subjective text. Instead, it is "a legal document embodying the essential points agreed upon by the parties and sanctioned by the law as to the manner of their living together as husband and wife" [2]. This work will interest those concerned with property rights, family, divorce, and the evolution of betrothal and marriage.