Jewish Marriage Contract
This ketubbah, the Jewish legal marriage contract the groom gives to his bride at their wedding, is from Tetuan, Morocco. In keeping with the surrounding culture in which they were created, ketubbot (plural for ketubbah) from Islamic lands were not decorated with human figures or biblical scenes that appear commonly in ketubbot from Europe and other Western communities. Rather, the illuminated ketubbot from the Islamic world draw their richness from bright floral motifs. In this contract, vivid red blossomed vines surround the text. The frame in which the text appears echoes the shapes of windows in the Middle East. At least from the middle of the nineteenth century into the twentieth, Jewish marriage documents from this area of Morocco are characterized by two Hebrew letters, het and yud, that form the word hai that were written larger than any other letters. The word hai means “life” in Hebrew. It emphasizes the community’s wish that the bride and groom enjoy a long and happy life together.
This ketubbah, the Jewish legal marriage contract the groom gives to his bride at their wedding, is from Tetuan, Morocco. In keeping with the surrounding culture in which they were created, ketubbot (plural for ketubbah) from Islamic lands were not decorated with human figures or biblical scenes that appear commonly in ketubbot from Europe and other Western communities. Rather, the illuminated ketubbot from the Islamic world draw their richness from bright floral motifs. In this contract, vivid red blossomed vines surround the text. The frame in which the text appears echoes the shapes of windows in the Middle East. At least from the middle of the nineteenth century into the twentieth, Jewish marriage documents from this area of Morocco are characterized by two Hebrew letters, <em>het</em> and <em>yud</em>, that form the word <em>hai</em> that were written larger than any other letters. The word hai means “life” in Hebrew. It emphasizes the community’s wish that the bride and groom enjoy a long and happy life together.