Ketubah Text Options
What your ketubah says is just as important as its visual design. The text you choose may be based on personal style, religious beliefs, or a combination of the two. Gilat Ben-Dor offers a variety of text options to choose from, including the ability to customize your text, such as in cases of creating original vows with your partner. Gilat Ben-Dor employs a precision method of digital calligraphy in her printing, and in all CUSTOM text layout orders, you will receive a digital proof before your ketubah goes to print.
At the bottom of this page, you can view and download an extensive selection of Ketubah text options. But first, here are a few of our Frequently Asked Questions about Ketubah texts...
How do I select my text? Where do I begin?
After selecting your ketubah design, think about the style of text you wish to incorporate in your ketubah. Texts can be viewed and downloaded from the list below (please scroll down) to share with your partner, clergy, and/or ceremony officiant.
Before placing your ketubah order, it is strongly recommended that you consult your clergy/officiant to ensure your text choice meets any religious requirements you wish to uphold. Once the ketubah has gone to print, there can be no corrections made without potential fees (unless the error was on our end).
What are my text options?
Gilat Ben-Dor offers texts ranging from religious to interfaith to secular and non-denominational options. We offer selections in both English-only or traditional Aramaic options. Depending on the design you choose, some options can include a meaningful phrase from the Songs of Solomon. You may also provide us with your own text, such as personal vows you have written with your partner. Please view the text options and descriptions below to get a sense of each option. And again, be sure to double check with your officiant for any special criteria your text may need to meet.
Can we provide our own text? What are the guidelines?
Due to the complex nature of copyright considerations, at this time we are only utilizing our own collection of text options, although Custom Text Layout may be selected for a seamless personalization of your ketubah texts, including your own names, wedding date, and other details.
ERRORS AND ACCURACY: Please remember that it is your responsibility to supply us with text that is free of errors, and that the content, including any names and dates, is completely accurate. This includes ensuring that you have gotten all approvals needed from any outside parties (rabbi, clergy, partner, officiant, etc.) prior to submitting your text details and committing to your text choice from our text menu.
What is Aramaic? I thought the language of origin was Hebrew.
Aramaic and Hebrew are indeed related. They both belong to the same group of ancient Canaanite languages, along with Phoenician. The Aramaic language is over 3,000 years old, and was the language used in everyday speaking in Israel during the Second Temple Period (circa 539 BCE - 70 CE), and is believed by some scholars to be the language used by Jesus. The traditional Ketubah text still used today is in Aramaic, and provides a rich link with the past.
In the Conservative text, there is a "Lieberman Clause." What's that?
Created in the 1950s by scholar and professor Saul Lieberman, the Lieberman Clause is verbiage included in the Jewish Conservative ketubah, directly after the traditional Aramaic text. The Lieberman clause came about in the Conservative Jewish movement as a solution to the traditional Jewish law that prohibits a woman from re-marrying if she is not granted a divorce decree, or a get, by her husband. According to Jewish law, the woman without a get then becomes known as an agunah, or an “anchored woman,” and becomes “stuck” in her situation.
The Lieberman Clause indicates that, in case a woman is refused a divorce by her husband, she can still obtain one through the Bet Din, or the rabbinical court. Ketubahs with the Lieberman clause have come to be associated with the Conservative movement of Judaism. You may click below to view the Lieberman clause as it appears alongside the original Aramaic ketubah text. The widespread English translation of the Lieberman Clause is as follows:
"And both together agreed that if this marriage shall ever be dissolved under civil law, then either husband or wife may invoke the authority of the Beth Din of the Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America or its duly authorized representatives, to decide what action by either spouse is then appropriate under Jewish matrimonial law; and if either spouse shall fail to honor the demand of the other or to carry out the decision of the Beth Din or its representative, then the other spouse may invoke any and all remedies available in civil law and equity to enforce compliance with the Beth Din's decision and this solemn obligation."
TEXT OPTIONS
(click each text title to view/download as PDF file)
When placing your order, please indicate if you are a same-sex couple, interfaith, and/or if any party has been divorced, as these may involve additional modifications, depending on the text selected.
Jewish Texts:
Traditional Aramaic only
(Click here for full English translation. NOTE: This full translation does not appear on the actual Ketubah.)
Traditional Aramaic with abridged English
Conservative with Lieberman Clause
Reform/Egalitarian
Jewish Gender-Neutral
Non-Denominational Texts:
Holy Covenant
Non-Denominational Gender-Neutral
Couple's Blessing - Original poem by Gilat Ben-Dor
Secular Texts (Non-Religious):
Humanistic
Secular Gender-Neutral