Ketubbot of Corfu
Ketubbot created during the Venetian period in Corfu have clear indicators of Venetian influence - in colors, design, and layout: using the distinctive love knot and zodiac symbols surrounding the text, and containing both the formal text of the ketubah as well as the dowry and the tena'im (engagement conditions).
As noted by Shalom Sabar, Romaniote ketubbot from Corfu include three distinct differences from standard Jewish marriage documents:
1. Including a date listing the years since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (by Rabbinic calculation, 68 CE). This is based on the injunction to “raise [the memory of] Jerusalem at the peak of my joy.” (Psalms 137:6). CUL MS X893 K5199993 (1730) is an example of a ketubbah with the Temple itself placed on the top and center of the document - in this case literally "raised to the peak" of the joyous occasion.
2. Include a clause in which the bride states her duties: ‘to honor him and serve him in cleanliness and purity, as decent and modest Jewish women honor and serve their husbands’ (translation from Sabar). The top center image of CUL MS X893 K51991 (1820) includes a rare drawing of the bride and groom dressed in their finest clothes.
3. On the day following the wedding, the groom would add a notation confirming the bride’s virginity prior to the wedding night. An example of this can be seen in the bottom left of JTS KET 41, on the lower left side of the document.
Note especially the very last ketubbah shown here, commemorating a wedding that took place only two weeks before the deportation of the Jews of the island of Corfu to Auschwitz in 1944, where two-thirds of the community were murdered.
![Ketubah : Korfu Ketubah : Korfu](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/4853fa6e821943814a31ecdc827f1259.jpg)
April 11, 1710
Bride: Rahel, daughter of Shelomoh Aboab
Groom: Avraham, son of Ya'akov Koroni'el
CUL MS X893 K5199991
![Ketubah, Corfu, 1725 Ketubah, Corfu, 1725](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/981604da2fdf7ec402dc76dda31d3cd3.jpg)
April 13, 1725
Bride: Stamou, daughter of Eliyahu Vivante
Groom: Moses Mazza, son of Shabetai Mazza
JTS KET 41
![Ketubah Korfu Ketubah Korfu](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/a0c5f219abdd7b23b717e9baf572d4c2.jpg)
May 31, 1730
Bride: Rivka Aboab, daughter of Ya'akov
Groom: Ya'akov Kiridi, son of Moshe Hai
CUL MS X893 K5199993
![Ketubah : Corfu Ketubah : Corfu](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/85d2eff594ca0ac5e65986d94e2ba56f.jpg)
Yosef and Gracito, daughter of Moshe Treves (1734)
CUL MS X893 K5193 no.4
Note: This ketubbah was reused as a book binding
![Ketubah : Korfu<br />
Ketubah : Korfu<br />](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/88a431f8dbb5f32b07f8263d8d202fc4.jpg)
August 4, 1764
Bride: Zamila Karidi, daughter of Avraham
Groom: Yitshak Hay Ga'on, son of Shemu'el
CUL MS X893 K51995
![Ketubah Corfu, 1790 Ketubah Corfu, 1790](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/ae6add9b0c7cc5ea2b9a3103f913b1cc.jpg)
September 22, 1790
Bride: Ferna, daughter of Moses Tsadik
Groom: Solomon Ashkenazi, son of Samuel Ashkenazi
JTS KET 320
![Ketubah : Korfu Ketubah : Korfu](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/61b92640781934504d4624d9d500cc42.jpg)
April 21, 1777
Bride: Rivka, daughter of Yehuda Hayim Aboab
Groom: Yehuda, son of Yosef Aboab
CUL MS X893 K51994
![Ketubah : Korfu Ketubah : Korfu](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/cbeec330bd346375e3cd5bde5fab18fe.jpg)
February 23, 1735
Bride: Miriam Cohen daughter of Refa'el Yitshak Ara
Groom: Avraham Kiridi son of Moshe Hay
CUL MS X893 K519998
![Ketubah : Korfu Ketubah : Korfu](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/7833753b4a49ae84650e0f3eaf0bd48e.jpg)
October 23, 1817
Bride: Rahel, daughter of Moshe Refa'el Ga'on
Groom: Moshe son of Eliyahu Vivanti
CUL MS X893 K519994
![Ketuba. Ketuba.](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/01b9a4cd97a46c278efec20e89507146.jpg)
February 23, 1820
Bride: Esther Kiridi, daughter of Ya'akov
Groom: Avraham, son of Hayim
CUL X893 K51991
![Ketubah : Korfu Ketubah : Korfu](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/ded48d0cff4e752cf53d259e86f153f8.jpg)
September 14, 1845
Bride: Sara Kiridi, daughter of Yitshak
Groom: Moshe Ozilio, son of David
CUL MS X893 K519993
![Ketubah Corfu, 1944 Ketubah Corfu, 1944](https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/files/square_thumbnails/96e2414292787790b614aa6efa5f2e07.jpg)
May 26, 1944
Bride: Esther, daughter of Nissim
Groom: Abraham Vivante, son of Solomon Vivante
JTS KET 21