Limited Edition Ketubot: Prices, Availability and More

Welcome! Below you’ll find full information on my three current limited edition ketubot, each of which comes to you signed and numbered, along with an attractively printed copy of the description available in the previous photos. Please hover over the image to bring up an abstract of this description. Enjoy, and please contact me with any questions, or to order. I’ll be happy to send you the correct order form and texts for your review. And again, mazal tov!

The Song of Songs Ketubah

The Song of Songs Ketubah employs glowing color, Moorish geometry and paper cutting to symbolize the complexity and beauty of the love between husband and wife, and the value of Jewish tradition in the home they create. The full text of the beloved Song of Songs weaves through the design in micrography, a uniquely Jewish art form that has been integral to the Hebrew manuscript arts since early medieval years. The painted and paper cut elements of the artwork are reminiscent of the Moorish culture within which the Jews of the Sephardic Golden Ager lived, learned, composers poetry and created extraordinary Hebrew manuscript art. The 18 petals of the floral form of the ketubah allude to the Hebrew word, chai, meaning life. The 36 painted areas and hand-applied gold stars indicate that two souls are united for life. The paper cut roses in the corners symbolize beauty in the Song, and are shown in bud, open flower and fruit, symbolizing the full life-cycle. The Magen-David shaped miniature painting at center reminds us of Jerusalem’s cultural and spiritual centrality to Judaism, and is surrounded by the phrase, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine, from the sixth chapter of The Song of Songs.

The Song of Songs Ketubah

My most popular ketubah print, The Song of Songs Ketubah is in a second series of 300 prints, available in the following text variants:

  • Traditional Aramaic with my egalitarian English

  • Traditional Aramaic only, with no English text other than in the design

  • Egalitarian Hebrew and English, suitable for Reform, Reconstructionist and interfaith weddings

  • No text, available for your own text (length permitting)

I add the gold color highlighting to your print by hand when I complete it for you. Please note that the papercut is printed, with a remarkable optical illusion of depth. The price for any of the above versions is $250 US. Personalization is available for any of the with-text versions for $75 US. Please allow 2-4 weeks for receipt of the ketubah, although faster service and express shipping are available for a rush fee. The fee for adding a complete  customized text to the no-text version will be determined by me upon reviewing the customer’s desired text, and usually is approximately $300.00 The cost of shipping within the continental US is $30. Please contact me for further information, or to order. Payment may be made by personal check, credit card or cash transfer, at your convenience.

 

The Loving Home Ketubah

The artwork surrounding the ketubah texts celebrates the warm and loving home inaugurated by the Jewish wedding. The flowers and fruit presented against the blue and gold border symbolize qualities found in the Jewish home. In madras, or rabbinic legend, roses, lilies and narcissus represent several virtues, including physical beauty, the value of the Commandments, and humility. Olive branches symbolize nobility, fruitfulness and peace in biblical texts. The roses, shown in bud, full flower and fruit also represent the life-cycle. Throughout Jewish lore and ritual, grapes symbolize joy and sanctification, while what alludes to sustenance. Throughout Jerusalem caper plants spring from dry rocky walls, producing buds and fresh white blossoms daily: in the Babylonian Talmud, the caper plant’s ability to thrive despite adversity is compared to Israel’s own perseverance. The flowering and fruiting almond branch draws upon the story in Numbers 17, in which Aaron’s wooden staff miraculously sprouts almond leaves, blossoms and fruit. The pomegranate has been a ubiquitous Mediterranean symbol of fruitfulness for millennia; additionally, the rabbis of madras asserted that the pomegranate holds exactly 613 seeds, alluding to the number of mitzvoth. The papercut border presents a motif of the Jerusalem skyline. Its scattered domes and buildings bear the beloved Seven Wedding Blessings in micrography, symbolizing the embrace of the new family within the greater Jewish community. Psalm 128 (abridged in English) surrounds the text panel and the paper cut. The lovely imagery of the psalm ends with one of the most popular traditional Hebrew wedding songs, “Yevarachecha Hashem MiTzion.” Mazal tov!

The Loving Home Ketubah

The Loving Home Ketubah has been printed in a total edition limited to 325, available in the following text versions:

  • Traditional Aramaic text with my egalitarian English

  • Conservative (full Lieberman) text with my egalitarian English

  • Egalitarian Hebrew and English, suitable for Reform, Reconstructionist and interfaith weddings

  • No text, available for your own text (length permitting)

The price of any of these versions of the print is $250(US). Standard hand fill-in is $75.00(US). The blank cartouche above the text panel provides space for a much enlarged illuminated first word (the day of the week in Hebrew), painted by default in metallic gold paint. The fee for adding a complete  customized text to the no-text version will be determined by me upon reviewing the customer’s desired text, and usually is approximately $300.00 The cost of shipping within the continental US is $30. Please contact me for further information, or to order. Payment may be made by personal check, credit card or cash transfer, at your convenience.

Any text version is available in a Deluxe preparation! I can do the paper-cutting by hand, and add the first day of the week into the cartouche at top in genuine gold leaf, for an additional $150(US).

 

The Walled Garden Ketubah

The ketubah is reproduced from an original that I created in gouache, egg tempera, gold and paper cutting. The design is inspired by biblical allusions to beauty, joy and fruitfulness, and the love of Jewish tradition. The passage from the Song of Songs 6:1-3 , which encircles the text panel and the edge of the artwork, culminates in the celebrated declaration, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” Elsewhere in the Song of Songs, the man describes his lover as a walled garden, and together these images form the theme of the artwork. The design presents a Mediterranean walled garden,, with a fountain, potted lilies, strong and pomegranate trees and grapevines. Fountains are frequent symbols of the vitality of Torah throughout Jewish lore, as are trees in general. These trees, however, bear specific value: the etrog, used during the festival of Succot, is described as the “fruit of a beautiful tree;” this etrog tree bears 7 fruits, representing the 7 days of the week. The pomegranate , a ubiquitous Mediterranean fertility symbol, which in Jewish lore also represents the 613 commandments, bears 3 fruits and 4 blossoms, alluding to the number of Israel’s Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Matriarchs, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah. As in the biblical verse in the border, the lily plants represent the woman’s beauty, but in a famous midrash, also symbolize the value of the Ten Commandments in the imperfect human world. The lilies’ pots are worked in an ancient Egyptian lotus pattern, perhaps contemporary with the Song of Songs itself….Please note that the papercuts on these limited edition prints are indeed printed.

The Walled Garden Ketubah

The Walled Garden Ketubah has been printed in a total edition of 300, available in the following text versions.

  • Traditional Aramaic text with my egalitarian English, written specifically for this print.

  • Conservative (full Lieberman) text with my egalitarian English

  • Egalitarian Hebrew and English, suitable for Reform, Reconstructionist and interfaith weddings

  • No text, available for your own text (length permitting)

The price of any of these versions of the print is $200(US). Standard hand fill-in is $75.00(US). The fee for adding a complete  customized text to the no-text version will be determined by me upon reviewing the customer’s desired text, and usually is approximately $300.00 The cost of shipping within the continental US is $30. Please contact me for further information, or to order. Payment may be made by personal check, credit card or cash transfer, at your convenience.