One of my customers emailed recently, wondering if my very popular Autumn Gold Ketubah (which is a vertical design) was also available as a horizontal version. They loved the imagery of the ketubah, but preferred a horizontal ketubah for their home. I thought this was a great idea so I decided to see if I could make it for them. Every ketubah I make is closely connected to the photograph they are based on — whether they are horizontal or vertical depends on the subject of the photograph, and how the text can interact with the artwork. After spending some time reworking the design, I was able to transform the Autumn Gold ketubah into a horizontal ketubah, that I think is just as beautiful as the original.
Read more on new design option for Autumn Gold ketubah…
I’d like to introduce to you two new ketubah designs I have created: the Evergreen Ketubah and the Sun Daisy Ketubah. Both of these modern ketubah designs are available in two sizes, and can be fully customized with any combination of my English and Hebrew texts and design options.
Read more on Introducing the Evergreen Ketubah and the Sun Daisy Ketubah…
Lindsey, a new customer, was just telling me why she and her fiancé chose my Center Ketubah, based on a photograph I took of a rose:
My future husband has a thing for roses. He has about 12 different rose bushes growing at our house in Denver. So when we saw your rose ketubahs, we knew we had to get it!
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If you want the most personal ketubah, you should consider writing your own words. Or, if you are like Lori and Seth, you can mix and match, combining your own words, with the words of others, and even some traditional texts. For their ketubah, Lori and Seth wanted to combine their own text, with the tradition Conservative Hebrew text, and used a favorite song lyric for a custom poetic verse.
Read more on when you have a lot for your ketubah to say…
I have just released seven new ketubah designs for Modern Ketubah. I created these new ketubahs from my some of my most recent photographs of lilies, roses, wildflowers and leaves. If you are interested in learning about how I got about creating these new ketubah designs, please read this post on my fine art photography blog.
Read more on New ketubah designs for 2008…
A question I often get asked is “How much Hebrew should my ketubah have?”. This party depends on the type of ceremony you are having, and partly on your attitude towards the ketubah. If you are having a Conservative or Orthodox ceremony, your Hebrew text is pretty much set. There is a traditional text used for the Orthodox ketubah (often referred to as the “Aramaic text”). Conservative ketubot use that Orthodox text, and add a paragraph called the Lieberman Clause. This is a text added in the 1950s to clarify the rules about divorce. (Sentimental, no?)
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In the Jewish tradition “hiddur mitzvah”, it is a mitzvah, a good act, to make religious objects as beautiful as possible. Beautifying these ceremonial objects heightens their spiritual quality, and reflects their importance and value. I believe that it also encourages people to make those objects an integral part of their lives. Here’s an example: we used to have a plain-looking menorah that my wife picked up in college. It was functional, but not that attractive, so it stayed in the closet most of the year. But after our son was born, we wanted to “upgrade” and find a new menorah for our new family, something that could become an heirloom. We found one made by a metalsmith from Vermont that was (to put it simply) gorgeous. Simple, pure, strong — a real work of art. Because of that beauty, an object that was once hidden now stays on our mantle all year long.
Read more on Hiddur mitzvah…
One of the most common questions I receive is: How long does it take to make a ketubah? The truth is, you could get one in 30 seconds: just visit your rabbi and he’ll pull a blank form “ketubah” from his desk. Official, yes. But it has more in common with a job application than a symbol of your wedding! To get a ketubah that is a work of art, that takes just a little longer. The ketubah is one part of your wedding you should not choose because “it’s fast”.
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Tracy at Fresh Bride added another nice post about my ketubah designs (thank you!), in which she mentioned was how my designs are well-suited for people who are planning a non-religious ceremony. That’s a great point. When I design my ketubot, I specifically avoid overtly-religious symbols, in favor of more univeral images of flowers and leaves. These images from nature are symbols that can be appreciated by anyone, regardless of their religious beliefs or traditions.
Read more on Ketubot for non-religious ceremonies…
This spring I introduced a new ketubah design, called “African Lily” (click here to see it). The african lily, also know as agapanthus or lily-of-the-nile, is a unique and beautiful flower from South Africa. When I was living in California, we had these growing everywhere. They are a unique and beautiful plant. The main part of the plant is a tight bundle of broad leaves that shoot out of the ground. For most of the year, it looks like this. But then in the spring, long delicate stems grow out of the center, two or three times taller than the main plant. Each of these stems has one bright purple bud on it, that bursts open into one colorful flower. This photograph is of an african lily from my own garden, taken right when the buds were about to bloom. For more information on this plant, visit the agapanthus page on Wikipedia.
Read more on Introducing my new ketubah design “African Lily”…
