Ashkenazi Ketubah Text

The Ashkenazi ketubah is the text most Western couples picture: the standard Aramaic wording used across Central and Eastern European communities, guaranteeing the wife's ikkar of two hundred zuz for a first marriage, plus the tosefet the husband adds.

Distinctive wording

Ashkenazi texts fix the essential amount in zuz and add the husband's supplement, with the classic phrase committing him to work for, honor and support his wife "as Jewish husbands faithfully do." The formulae are highly standardized, which is why printed and templated ketubot are common in Ashkenazi practice.

Dowry and tosefet

The nedunya (dowry the wife brings) is recorded and the husband accepts responsibility for it, adding a matching sum. Amounts are largely symbolic today.

Decoration

Historically, Ashkenazi ketubot were more restrained than their Italian or Sephardi counterparts, though modern Ashkenazi couples enjoy the full range of papercut, floral and painted designs.

Confirm the exact text, names and lineage with your rabbi.