Kethubah (Marriage Contract) of Grand Rabbi Israel Friedmann of Ruzhin (1796-1850)

CHASSIDIC KETHUBAH OF GREAT HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE. This marriage document contains the formula “Kethubah Acharitha Ba-charika Di-kethubatha Kamaitha” [Another Kethubah in Place of the First Kethubah], meaning that it was intended to replace the original marriage document, while increaing the monetary amount promised the bride from the original. R. Israel increased the value of his wife’s kethubah by 1,548 “korblech Moskovichi,” i.e. Muscovite rubles, which was according to the computation of Prof. David Assaf, “a considerable sum at the beginning of the nineteenth century.” The motivating factor was that she had found favor in his eyes (“ashkechath rachamin be-eynai”). The groom “Israel son of Shalom Shachna,” is described as an “avrech” or young man in view of his tender age of thirteen years. The bride’s name was “Sarah daughter of Moshe Halevi.” The document was written in Pohorbishch, birthplace of the groom. R. Israel Friedmann of Ruzhin was one of the most important, if controversial, figures in the early Chassidic movement. His pedigree extended back to the famed Maggid of Mezritch, R. Dov Baer, successor to R. Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement, (who's father, Shalom Shachna, was the son of Abraham “the Angel,” son of the Maggid.) R. Israel first attracted a considerable following in Ruzhin, Russia. After being falsely denounced to the Tsarist government, R. Israel was forced to flee across the border to Austrian Galicia, in 1845, reestablishing his court in the town of Sadigora, where a palatial residence was erected. R. Israel conveyed his teachings through witty statements rather than formal teachings. After his passing, his sons (and their wives) were criticized by the Tzaddik of Sanz, R. Chaim Halberstam, for their opulent lifestyle. Nonetheless, the regal “Ruzhiner Dynasty” continued to thrive. Several descendants would become famous for their Torah scholarship, most notably R. Moses Friedmann of Boyan-Cracow (1881-1943). Today, the descendants of the Ruzhiner dynasty, most notably the Rebbes of Boyan, Sadigora, and Buhush (who have all relocated to Eretz Israel), continue to occupy positions of leadership in the Chassidic world. See D. Assaf, The Regal Way: The Life and Times of Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin (2002), pp. 36, 346; D.B. Rabinowitz, Igroth Ha-Rav me-Ruzhin u-Banav (Jerusalem, 2003), pp. 61-64 (facsimile on p. 62); Tiphereth Israel, no. 37, pp. 38-9 (includes facsimile); EJ, Vol. XIV, cols. 526-532. Prof. Shlomo Zucker of the Jewish National & University Library, Jerusalem, assisted in preparing this entry. Further deatils concerning this Kethubah is available upon request.