Obj. ID: 48916 Ketubbah, Aleppo, 1867
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The following description was prepared by William Gross:
A Ketubah (Hebrew: כְּתוּבָּה ; "written thing"; pl. Ketubot) is a special type of Jewish prenuptial agreement. It is considered an integral part of a traditional Jewish marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom, in relation to the bride. The content of the Ketubah is in essence a one-way contract that formalizes the various requirements by Halacha (Jewish law) of a Jewish husband vis à vis his wife. The Jewish husband takes upon himself in the Ketubah the obligation that he will provide to his wife three major things: clothing, food and conjugal relations, and also that he will pay her a pre-specified amount of cash in the case of a divorce. Thus the content of the Ketubah essentially dictates security and protection for the woman, and her rights in the marriage.
This document is signed and then given to the bride as her property. In Italy and most of the Islamic countries in which Jews resided, such a Ketubah was often decorated, a tradition originating with the Jews in Spain. Today, generally, printed Ketubot are used.
The Jews of Aleppo used a special shape for their Ketubot. The form was an elongated rectangle with a pointed top. The documents were often of parchment, something unusual for this area of the world and sometimes, as with this example, a very simplified representation of a hamsa was painted in the triangular shape at the top, using a horizontal line with five vertical strokes. Several different colors were used for the words fashioned from large hollow letters. This calligraphic feature was regularly used for inscriptions on manuscripts from the general area of Iran and Iraq.
Groom: Shlomo ben Avraham Shem'a Halevi
Bride: Reina bat Shalom Mizrachi