ketubah me

someone asked us this week if we were having a jewish wedding. no, we said. we both have jewish fathers and family, but we're not technically jewish. then i started to realize that i keep adding jewish traditions to our wedding...

the first was the breaking of the glass. i have always wanted this to be part of my wedding. it was part of my brother's and my sister's, and something i've always thought was a given.

when we decided that we wanted to get married outside, we decided to have a chuppah. a chuppah is basically a piece of cloth held up by four poles. during a jewish wedding ceremony, the bride and groom stand under the chuppah & it is the place where the major parts of the ceremony take place. i love their simplicity, and there is something very natural about them.

the next thing that happened was a ketubah. the ketubah is a marriage contract that explains the basic material, conjugal and moral responsbilities of the husband to his wife. it's real purpose traditionally is to protect the wife in case she is divorced or widowed, so really, it's a jewish pre-nup. i hadn't really thought about having one; in fact, i'd pretty much forgotten the word until i read a post by a jewish bride discussing choosing one for her wedding. my aunt jeannie has a beautiful ketubah that i always loved to look at when i was younger. i didn't realize how many different options there are in terms of wording and appearance. they are works of art.







they're beautiful, and i love what they represent. a signed commitment to each other. so i'll be adding another jewish tradition to my non-jewish wedding. a ketubah. now, we just have to pick one...