Michael Shapiro - Ketubah Renaissance: The Artful Modern Revival of the Jewish Marriage Contract

Accompanied by the 'Ketubah Renaissance Traveling Exhibition on display from October 12-October 27 @ the SJCC. 

Illuminating the contemporary revival of the Jewish marriage contract, Ketubah Renaissance is the first to chronicle the remarkable contemporary rebirth of the art ketubah in America. It is a sumptuous coffee table book that invites “curling up with”, show casing sixty of the most innovative ketubot of the last half century. Originally created 2,500 years ago as a unilateral marriage contract, the ketubah evolved from the tenth century onward into a richly decorated expression of love and commitment. However, it virtually died out in the first half of the twentieth century. Then, starting in the late 1960s, influenced by Jewish life and North American society at large, hundreds of artists and calligraphers began to imprint their unique aesthetic onto each ketubah design—a movement Judaica scholar Shalom Sabar calls “averitable renaissance of the illuminated ketubah”.

MICHAEL SHAPIRO is the founder and CEO of Ketubah.com, the world’s leading publisher of artistic Jewish wedding contracts, and a worldwide lecturer on historical and contemporary ketubot. For three decades he has helped shape the development of ketubah art, working with both influential and emerging artists.

SJCC members will receive a 20% discount at checkout