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.

Engage with this Source

You may also like

Manuscript page with Hebrew text, with some words set apart in rectangular frames, surrounded by border of branches, flowers, and birds, and small illustration of boy and animal with tail in bottom margin.
Tooltip info icon

Maḥzor for the Rite of Carpentras

This maḥzor (holiday prayer book) contains the festival prayers for the whole year, according to the rite of Carpentras, and was copied in Provence. The Jews of the former papal territory of Comtat…
View Source
Front and back of coin, with lily on one side and falcon on the other
Tooltip info icon

Coin with Lily/Falcon

On the front is a lily, commonly found on Yehud coins. On the back is a bird that most ornithologists consider to be a falcon; there is no consensus on its symbolism. With wings spread, this falcon…
View Source