Ketubah is a term used to refer to a marriage contract that is signed in Jewish weddings. The purpose of this contract is to give marriage a legal basis and protect the bride financially incase the husband dies or they get a divorce. The regulations of this document are so strict making it hard for a husband to divorce a wife as it is costly, thereby strengthening their marriage. It is illegal for a Jewish couple to live together without a ketubah.
Its origin dates back to the early centuries when people still held a woman as a property owned by his husband. It is one of the first documents to fight for women’s rights and it spells out what the woman was entitled to receive in case his husband dies.
Details found in this legal document include the date of marriage, place where the ceremony is held, the names of both the bride and groom and amount of bridal price. The names of the bride and that of the groom’s fathers are also written in the document. The document also has declarations in which the groom declares that all his belongings be sold the some of the amount used to pay the bride as compensation.
This document is usually written in Aramaic, the local language of Jews. It can however be found in various translations to cater for those who do not understand Aramaic. The ketubah is read aloud during the wedding ceremony so that everyone can here and be a witness. It is then signed by the bride and her groom. Two other person not related the either the groom or the bride are also required to sign the documents as official witnesses. The groom then presents the ketubah to his bride officially.
The ketubah is displayed in houses on the walls for every one to see. It is considered as a way of showing their loyalty to each other and their customs. In most cases, it is beautifully framed and many use it as an aesthetic to decorate the walls of their house, while communicating to the public about their status.
A lot of changes have however been made on this document. The original language of Aramaic is still recognized in Israel though other less conservative Jews use other languages to write it. The original format of writing has also changed a lot. More mutually beneficial contracts have replaced to traditional ones which gave women priority over men in cases of divorce. Marriages ending by the man getting the divorce will now allow the woman to remarry.
Other more conservative Jews will demand that their ketubah be signed by a rabbi among other witnesses while the other will be ok with the signatures of the bride and groom. There are those who have even changed the significance and the text in the Ketubah. Some choose to add new text into the existing one while others introduce completely new text to the document. This has made it to be less of a legally binding document, leaving it to act as an agreement of loyalty between couples.
