Full Description
Illuminating the contemporary revival of the Jewish marriage contract, Ketubah Renaissance relays the storied history of this beloved document (known in Hebrew as a ketubah) through the present day and showcases sixty of the most innovative and beautiful ketubot of the last half century.
Originally created 2,500 years ago as a unilateral marriage contract stating what a groom would provide for his bride, the ketubah evolved from the tenth century onward into a richly decorated expression of love and commitment. Starting in the late 1960s a modern sensibility took root. Influenced by Jewish life and North American society at large, hundreds of artists and calligraphers began to imprint their unique aesthetic onto each ketubah design-a movement Judaica scholar Shalom Sabar calls "a veritable renaissance of the illuminated ketubbah"-while also updating the original Aramaic text to express contemporary values.
Couples and families with upcoming weddings as well as officiating clergy, educators, aficionados of Jewish culture, scholars, and others will discover the evolving history of the ketubah in all its facets: its artforms, texts, scripts, iconography, production processes, and technological innovations. A curated, chronological ketubah gallery brings readers up close to sixty influential ketubot and the artists who created them-a colorful cornucopia of breakthroughs that epitomize the ketubah renaissance.
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Ketubah Plates
Foreword: The Joyous Art of the Ketubah by Shalom Sabar
Preface: Between the Ketubah's Margins and Center by Joanna Homrighausen
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Two Journeys
1. The Ketubah in Israel
2. A Landmark Era for the Art Ketubah
3. Ketubah Text Transformations and Use at the Wedding Ceremony
4. The Script of the Ketubah
5. The Art of Ketubah Production
6. The Ketubah in the Twenty-First Century
7. Gallery of Ketubah Plates
Appendix: Common Ketubah Symbols
Notes
Bibliography
