In most Sephardic congregations, before the Tora is read on the first day of Shabu’ot, we recite a very special “marriage certificate or Ketuba” which compares the relationship between God and Israel to a “marriage”. The Covenant of Love between God and Israel that we remember on Shabu’ot was formalized with the giving of the Tora, in the same way that a marriage between husband and wife is formalized with the giving of the Ketuba. This comparison between the God-Israel’s covenant and a marriage is not new. It is mentioned numerous times in the Tanakh. Interestingly, the Haftara that we read this last Shabbat (Hoshea 2: 21-22) mentions the beautiful words that God said to Israel: “I will take you as My wife forever. I will marry you with justice, right, kindness and compassion. I will marry you and I will be eternally faithful to you, and thus you will know that I am Your God… ” We recite these words every day when we wear the Tefillin, when we place the leather strips around our finger, representing a wedding band.
A wedding Ketuba begins by mentioning the day of the week, then the date, the month, the year, the place where the marriage takes place, the names of the bride and the groom and continues with the couples obligations. The groom also grants his wife generous gifts and presents as a guarantee and expression of his love and fidelity. The dowry is also mentioned, and where the couple will reside. The bride accepts everything the husband grants her and the marriage contract is formalized front of two witnesses.
The Ketuba of Shabu’ot’s follows the same order.
THE TEXT OF SHABU’OT’S KETUBA
“Today, Friday, the sixth day of the month of Sivan, the day chosen by the Holy Blessed is He for the revelation of the Tora to His beloved people … The Invisible, but Omnipresent Bridegroom set out for Mount Sinai, shone from Se’ir and appeared from Mount Paran … in the year 2448 from the creation of the world,… on this Earth, whose foundations were established by Him,…
The Groom [God], Ruler of rulers, and King of kings …. declares to the beautiful and virtuous bride [the people of Israel] who won His favor above all other maidens, that is beautiful like the moon, and radiant like the sun: you will be My wife forever and I will be your redeemer.
I’m consecrating you as my wife according to the law of Moses and Israel, and I declare that I will honor you, sustain you and protect you, and I will be your refuge and shield at all times, for ever and ever.
Behold, I grant you My precious commandments, that I deliver through the legislator Yequtiel [Moses]. Knowing of your fidelity and your loyalty I give you the Tora, a book of life, and by following it, you and your children will live in peace and tranquility.
And the bride [the people of Israel] accepted all that is written in the Ketuba and became His wife. And thus an everlasting covenant was established between them that will bind them forever.
The Bridegroom agreed to add to the above all the life lessons that in the future Tora scholars will learn from the Holy Scriptures and Oral Law: including the Sifra, the Sifra, the Agggadtah and the Toseftha … and all the new lessons that the Sages of all generations will expound and teach.
The dowry that this bride brings from the house of her parents [our ancestors], consists of an open heart to understand [the Tora], attentive ears to listen to it, and eyes that will study it [day and night].
Thus, the sum total of the Ketuba and the dowry, with the addition of the positive and negative commandments, can be summarized in the following [obligation on Israel’s part]: “Respect God and observes His commandments; for this is the purpose of human life ”(Kohelet 12:13). …
The inheritance that the bride will receive is immortality of the soul in the world to come… and the residence [even when she is not in the land of Israel] will be set in every small place where the Tora is studied [there, His Presence will reside].
And the bride has responded affectionately to everything proposed by the Bridegroom: “We will do and we will listen.”
All these conditions will be valid and cannot be altered forever and ever.
The Husband has taken an oath …and promises to be faithful to her and that He will never replace her with another wife.
Following the legal formalities, the Bridegroom delivers this document [The Torah, which is the Ketuba between God and Israel]… and Heavens and Earth are invited to be the [eternal] witnesses of this commitment.
May the Bridegroom always rejoice with His bride, whom he has taken as His wife, and may the wife rejoice with her Husband, as she always recites His praise!
This is a brief, but I believe faithful, translation of the text of the Shabuot Ketuba written by Rabbi Israel Najara z”l (1555-1625). By the way: Can you guess in which city Rabbi Najara lived during the last years of his life? In that city, who had a vibrant Jewish community, he also died and his remains were buried there.
That Jewish city is Gaza.
