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This article examined the marriage procedures prevalent in Mainz and other places in eleventh century Ashkenaz. Marriages took place on the Sabbath, as in Christian society, where weddings were held on holidays and days of rest. The ketubah was written on Friday in order to prepare for the wedding. Marriage during this period was not a symbolic ritual but a tangible act of sexual intercourse. Accordingly, a festive meal was held during which the couple consummated the marriage. Since the betrothal took place in a limited social circle, the betrothal blessing was recited toward the end of the Sabbath in the framework of a public, festive ceremony. After verification of the bride's virginity, which meant she was eligible to receive the ketubah , the marriage blessings were recited on Saturday night and the ketubah became legally binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses that after finding existing rabbi's manuals inadequate, Rabbi Pamela Barmash began creating her own egalitarian rituals for Jewish ceremonies, including weddings, to align with modern values of equality and mutual responsibility. It mentions that her egalitarian ketubah and ceremony were eventually approved by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards in 2020, emphasizing that Jewish tradition can be reinterpreted to reflect contemporary ethical ideals.

The article discusses that Rabbis Barmash and Labovitz address the gender inequalities inherent in traditional Jewish marriage practices. Barmash advocates for reinterpretation within existing structures to create egalitarian ketubah ceremonies, while Labovitz suggests abandoning kiddushin altogether in favor of new egalitarian marriage ceremonies, both aiming to reconcile halakhic tradition with feminist values within the Modern Orthodox community.

The article discusses that in their responsa, Rabbis Pamela Barmash and Gail Labovitz explore how Conservative Judaism can reinterpret traditional Jewish marriage laws to align with contemporary ethical values of gender equality. Barmash proposes modifying existing structures of ketubah to be more egalitarian, whereas Labovitz argues for entirely new marriage models, such as hitkadeshut, to ensure true equality and mutuality in Jewish marital practices.

En aquest article documentem les principals expressions jurídiques de dret matrimonial que apareixen al llarg de la història expressades en el document principal anomenat ketubah (escrit) que el marit lliura a l’esposa per comprar-la en matrimoni. Les documentem en la seva llengua original, arameu i hebreu, n’aportem una traducció a la llengua catalana i descrivim la seva posició dins la ketubah i el seu significat. Per això farem prèviament un breu recorregut per les pàgines del Primer Testament. Assenyalarem especialment els primers segles després de Crist, perquè és quan el rabinisme fixa amb detall les qüestions jurídiques més definitives que serviran fins a l’edat mitjana i encara als nostres dies, almenys en el judaisme ortodox. Volem mostrar l’evolució que els diversos elements jurídics han tingut al llarg dels temps. No tindrem en compte els elements jurídics que en l’antigor han usat i usen tant els caraïtes (s. VIII-XX) com els sabateus (s. XVII-XIX) i les diverses formes de judaisme modern, com ara el reformat, el conservador o el reconstruccionista, cosa que no impedirà que aquí i allí hi puguem fer alguna referència. Ens hem servit sobretot de l’obra cabdal en aquesta matèria, The Jewish Marriage Contract. A Study in the Status of Woman in Jewish Law (Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1927), de Louis M. Epstein, tenint en compte, és clar, el que posteriorment s’ha escrit sobre el tema, degut a les troballes a Naḥal Ḥeber i a Qumran, juntament amb els estudis, sobretot, de Menahem Elon, Shmuel Safrai i la mateixa Encyclopaedia Judaica (Skolnik i Berenbaum, 2007).

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The article offers an overview of recent United States court cases on the topic of religious family agreements, focusing in particular on cases seeking to enforce mahr provisions, provisions of ketubahs , and religious upbringing agreements. Overall, the recent cases display the tensions created by an intersection of separate concerns: interpretive, doctrinal, and constitutional. The cases ultimately display a cautious approach, including a general reluctance to enforce provisions where doing so might interfere with religious freedom or override the financial rights of vulnerable parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]