The Rabbinic Marriage Contract

The ketubah, or marriage contract, is designed to protect the wife financially in case of divorce or the death of her husband. It grants her the right to a specific sum of money—determined by whether it is her first marriage or she is a widow or divorcée—sufficient to provide for her needs. On the occasion of divorce or the husband’s death, the husband’s property automatically becomes encumbered to satisfy his wife’s ketubah, over and above any other debts he may owe. The ketubah also limits her claims against his property, as a woman returning to her husband cannot seek to benefit from two ketubot.

The Mishnah (m. Ketubbot 5:1) discusses the standard amounts indicated in the ketubah and clarifies that the ketubah goes into effect upon betrothal, the first of the two phases of Jewish marriage. The standard ketubah sum is a minimum, so a man of means can pledge a larger amount. R. Judah provides a legal loophole for a couple that wishes to marry for less than the standard sum: the man writes a ketubah for the standard amount, and the woman writes him a receipt for a lesser amount. R. Meir, however, rejects this loophole and maintains that a marriage for less than the standard minimum ketubah is invalid.

The Babylonian Talmud (b. Ketubbot 82b) offers a history of the ketubah and explains that as long as the requirement was to maintain fluid cash for the ketubah, marriage was prohibitive to anyone but the wealthy, and it was too easy to divorce one’s wife. Simeon ben Shetaḥ ruled that a document stating that all the husband’s property is guaranteed for the payment of the wife’s ketubah would suffice, which made marriage more financially feasible and also created more of a legal process for divorce. This system is reflected in m. Ketubbot 8:8, which explains that one does not hold property of monies designated as ketubah monies during the marriage. Rather, all of a husband’s property is guaranteed for its payment upon a divorce.