What is a Ketubah?

The great thing about this contract ­ the Ketubah ­ is that it is a mitzvah for your Ketubah to be beautifully decorated. The beauty of the Ketubah reflects the beauty of the marriage itself. A Ketubah is a treasure; the Ketubah combines the sacred with the mundane, the blessings of love with the obligations of love.

Certainly the language of the Ketubah has changed some over its 2000-year-plus history. Traditionally, the Ketubah is a legal lien on the husband's property that he gives his wife-to-be in the case of his death or their divorce, to ensure her maintenance and well-being. It derives from an era when women¹s rights were few (nearly non-existent), and so the Ketubah is viewed as one of the most progressive of all contracts. The fact that the Ketubah¹s rightful owner is the bride enhances this viewpoint. Another "plug" for the feminist nature of the Ketubah is that women are, according to halacha (the legal part of the Talmud), allowed to be the sofer (scribe) of a Ketubah,

Just like any other contract, the Ketubah addresses the concerns that are specific to each couple. For instance, the text of the Ketubah can be modified to be egalitarian, and provide equal protection for both husband and wife. Reform and Reconstructionist Ketubahs tend to omit the financial obligations portion. Some Ketubahs include language to address the issue of the provision of a get, (bill of divorce) when the get is requested by the wife rather than the husband. The language of the Ketubah is personalized usually in consultation with the bride and groom¹s Rabbi as the arbiter.