Ketubah between God and Israel for Shavuot

Artist Unknown

17th–18th Century

Page of Aramaic text with illustrations of figure on left side of text holding tablets and figure on right side of text with hat, tents above text, and animals and burning bush below text.
In the Sephardic tradition, a “marriage contract” (ketubah), a symbolic betrothal of God and Israel, is read before the Torah reading on the first day of the holiday of Shavuot, which celebrates the giving of the Torah to the people of Israel. This rare example of such a ketubah is from Italy. The figures of Moses and Aaron stand to either side of the text, and other stories from the life of Moses are illustrated above and below it.

Credits

Marriage Contract for Shavuot. Gift of Dr. Harry G. Friedman / The Jewish Museum, New York.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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