"Your ketubah is the most important contract you will ever sign. We make sure to get your ketubah just right."
ketubah
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Traci and Darrell, June 9th, 2002


Nishima-

You have created a beautiful masterpiece! We got it today and it is just lovely. It look really cool to have the signatures in the middle like that... You were so right.

You were a pleasure to work with... Your patience was appreciated.

Thank you so much!

Traci and Darrell

"Your ketubah is the most important contract you will ever sign. We make sure to get your ketubah just right."
ketubah
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Numerous and varied ketubah texts are being used in contemporary Jewish weddings. Unique ketubahs are not a new phenomenon. Studies of ketubahs found in a Cairo geniza show that 1000 years ago ketubah texts were written to reflect the individual needs of marrying couples.

Today, however, the differences generally exist across denominations of Judaism. Thus, most couples use the ketubah text handed to them by their Rabbi, synagogue, or denomination. Only rarely do couples create ketubah texts that reflect their individual marriages, especially in Hebrew (it is more common to add a hand-written English ketubah text). Of course, writing a ketubah in Hebrew is not so easy.

But the deeper reason is that it has not been the recent custom to write original, individual ketubah texts. Instead, ketubah texts serve as a reminder of the marrying couple's connection to tradition and/or the Jewish people. Today, many ketubah texts derive their meaning from the fact that they are virtually the same from ketubah to ketubah, generation to generation.

A new vision of the ketubah text as a living, personally relevant, and legally binding contract is emerging. Rabbis and scholars and marrying couples are beginning to author new ketubah texts that reflect the requirements, experiences, and sensibilities of the modern world. Some draw upon ketubah texts that date from medieval times and remain true to Jewish halacha (law). Others recreate the ketubah text in an entirely new vision. As this explosion of possibilites continues, marrying couples will increasingly be able to utilize a contract that reflects their own ideas and plans for their marriage.