Available Now - Ketubah Renaissance is a gorgeous testament to the creative aesthetic, and spiritual health of Jewish life in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century.

Ketubah Renaissance

by Michael Shapiro

$39.95

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lluminating the contemporary revival of the Jewish marriage contract, Ketubah Renaissance relays the storied history of this beloved document (known in Hebrew as a ketubah) through the present day and showcases sixty of the most innovative and beautiful ketubot of the last half century.

Originally created 2,500 years ago as a unilateral marriage contract stating what a groom would provide for his bride, the ketubah evolved from the tenth century onward into a richly decorated expression of love and commitment. Starting in the late 1960s a modern sensibility took root. 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 “a veritable renaissance of the illuminated ketubbah”—while also updating the original Aramaic text to express contemporary values.

Couples and families with upcoming weddings as well as officiating clergy, educators, aficionados of Jewish culture, scholars, and others will discover the evolving history of the ketubah in all its facets: its artforms, texts, scripts, iconography, production processes, and technological innovations. A curated, chronological ketubah gallery brings readers up close to sixty influential ketubot and the artists who created them—a colorful cornucopia of breakthroughs that epitomize the ketubah renaissance.

ISBN: 9780827615625

Published by: The Jewish Publication Society

Praise for Ketubah Renaissance…

“Thoughtful, inspiring, ingenious, inventive, playful, profound. . . . Adjectives fail me. Ketubah Renaissance is a gorgeous testament to the creative, aesthetic, and spiritual health of Jewish life in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. The images summon the ‘mazal tovs’ of weddings past, present, and future.”
Anita Diamant, author of twelve books, including The Red Tent and The Jewish Wedding Now
“Offers a bird’s-eye view into the fascinating journey of one of Judaism’s oldest forms of visual culture. Through careful selection, ancient and modern patterns emerge in the development of a veritable contemporary Ketubah Renaissance.”
Francesco Spagnolo, curator, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life and associate adjunct professor of Music and Jewish Studies, University of California, Berkeley
“This stunning collection of marriage contracts in many media, from paper cuts to fabric, accompanied by an accessible history, is a must-have for anyone who loves Jewish ritual art.”
Jodi Eichler-Levine, Berman Professor of Jewish Civilization at Lehigh University and author of Painted Pomegranates and Needlepoint Rabbis: How Jews Craft Resilience and Create Community
“Clear, well organized, and thoroughly researched, Ketubah Renaissance will make an outstanding gift to a couple soon to be married, providing ideas for the text and illustration of their own marriage contract as well as teaching about the history of ketubot. For rabbis, educators, and scholars as well, it’s an exceptional addition to the existing volumes on historical ketubot.”
Dorion Liebgott, editor of Art and Tradition: Treasures of Jewish Life
“This comprehensive and accessible introduction to ketubot will aid couples in their ketubah decision-making process.”
Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, coeditor of The Jewish Catalog

Events

Michael Shapiro signing a copy of Ketubah Renaissance at a speaking engagement.

August 6, 2026 to January 3, 2027

Traveling Exhibition

JCC of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

October 12 to October 27, 2026
Traveling Exhibition
Soloway JCC
Ottawa, ON

Monday October 19, 2026
Book Talk and Slide Presentation
Soloway JCC
Ottawa, ON

Thursday November 12, 2026
Book Talk and Slide Presentation
Temple Israel of Hollywood
Los Angeles, CA

Sunday November 15, 2026
Reception with the Curator
JCC of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

February 3 to February 28, 2027
Traveling Exhibition and Book Talk

Memphis JCC
Memphis, TN

A room set up for a presentation about Ketubah Renaissance.

Press Release

“Illuminating the contemporary revival of the Jewish marriage contract, Ketubah Renaissance relays the storied history of this beloved document through the present day.”

“…a brilliant and beautiful presentation of illustrated Jewish marriage documents created in recent decades.”

– Dr. Stuart Halpern, Yeshiva University

About Michael Shapiro

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 nearly three decades he has helped shape the development of contemporary ketubah art by guiding both influential and emerging contemporary ketubah artists, and by freeing a wider range of artists of the need to master the text themselves. His ketubah publishing innovations include cutting-edge archival quality printing, laser cutting on demand, and an online tool to submit and verify all Hebrew names on the contract.

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