The Ketubah, or Marriage Contract

The ketubah is an ancient contract delineating the obligations of the husband to his wife.

By Louis Jacobs

Reprinted with permission from The Jewish Religion: A Companion, published by Oxford University Press.

 

The [ketubah is the] marriage contract by which a bridegroom obligates himself to provide a settlement for his wife if he divorces her, or his heir if he predeceases her.

 

Ketubah, from the root katav, "to write," is the name for both the written contract itself and for the amount the husband is obliged to settle on his wife. The main purpose of the ketubah is to prevent a husband divorcing his wife against her will, which, in talmudic times, he had the right to do. The knowledge that he had to pay his wife her ketubahwould serve as a check against hasty divorce.

 

The minimum amount for the ketubah is 200 zuz for a virgin and 100 zuz for a widow or divorcee. These amounts were by no means negligible since an average house in talmudic times could be bought for 50 zuz, and if a man had 200 zuz in ready cash, he was no longer eligible for poor-relief.

 

A groom could, of course, add to the ketubah any amount he wished. A whole tractate of the Mishnah and Talmud, tractate Ketubot, is devoted mainly to the laws of the ketubah. In addition to the basic settlement, the husband undertakes in the ketubahto protect his wife, work for her, provide her with her marital rights and with all that is necessary for her due sustenance.

 

Since [the ketubah] was a legal document and had to be understood by both parties, it was written in Aramaic, the vernacular in talmudic times. This form is still preserved in the traditional ketubah,though in Anglo Jewry and elsewhere there is an English translation on the back of the document.

 

In the State of Israel, the ketubah isstill an enforceable legal document. In the [United States], the [United Kingdom], and most European countries, marriage arrangements are a matter for the secular civil law, so that the ketubahbecomes a formality, every ketubah stating only the amounts of either 200 or 100 zuz. Nevertheless, since in rabbinic law it is forbidden for a man to live with his wife unless she has a ketubah,the drawing up and reading of the ketubah ispart of every Jewish marriage ceremony.

 

The ketubah isessentially a statement of the husband's obligations. The obligations of the wife to her husband are not recorded in the ketubah. Most Reform Jews [and Reconstructionist Jews, as well as many Conservative Jews,] today, therefore, prefer a different version of the ketubah that is more egalitarian.

 

It has long been the practice in many communities to have illuminated ketubot, with paintings of birds, flowers, and other ornamental features. Illuminated ketubot from the 19th century and earlier are now collectors' items.

 

Rabbi Dr. Louis Jacobs is the rabbi emeritus of the New London Synagogue, Goldsmid Visiting Professor at University College London, and Visiting Professor at Lancaster University. His books include Jewish Prayer, We Have Reason to Believe, Principles of the Jewish Faith, and A Jewish Theology.

 

(c) Louis Jacobs, 1995. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be stored, transmitted, retransmitted, lent, or reproduced in any form or medium without the permission of Oxford University Press.