Marriage Contract. Solemnizes the marriage of Meir, son of Haham Yoseph, to Leah, daughter of Abraham. Signatures below.

(KETHUBAH).

21st Shevat

Bukhara, Uzbekistan

1889

A rare Bukharan Kethubah written on white leather. Designed in the shape of a house, the Kethubah is topped by a gabled roof symbolizing the Jewish family. Much of the wording follows in the style of the Persian Kethuboth, offering blessings to the bride and groom and to the Jewish nation. Unusual is the blessing for the head of the Diaspora Yeshiva (“Rosh HaYeshiva shel Golah.”) The text of the Kethubah follows the standard Aramaic traditional language, however the second and third paragraphs detailing the particulars of the dowry are written in the Persian-Tajiki vernacular, transcribed into Hebrew characters. A most uncommon feature is the material on which the Kethubah is written on. All Kethuboth are composed on vellum or paper, this Bukharan contract was written on white leather. After the wedding, the Kethubah was kept by the bride who would fold the document in four, and thus the vertical and horizontal creases of this Kethubah are still clearly evident. Less than ten Bukharan Kethuboth are recorded in public and private collections. Of the thousand plus Kethuboth in the Jewish National and Hebrew University Library in Jerusalem, only three are Bukharan. The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York possesses only one from Bukhara.