“OTTOMAN AND TURKISH KETUBBOT (Marriage Contracts)” Exhibition
 
The Museum of Turkish Jews opened an exhibition at Schneidertemple after cleaning and maintaining the ketubbot, some of which have been kept in the forgotten closet corners of our homes for years, some of which have been discovered as works of art, some from the walls of collectors, some from the Chief Rabbinate Collection.  
 
The Museum of Turkish Jews brought together some 50 ketubbot from the archives of the Israel Museum and various individual collections, including those of the Chief Rabbi of the Republic of Turkey Rav. Isak Haleva and collectors Ceri Benardete, Jak Haim and Silvyo Ovadya, and from the archive of the Israel Museum, and exhibited them at the Schneidertempel between November 8-17, at the Museum between November 20 and March 20, 2025, and at the Etz Hayim Synagogue in Izmir between March 25 and April 10, 2025.

The exhibition “Ottoman and Turkish Ketubbot” opened by the Museum of Turkish Jews brought together ketubbot from different cities such as Van, Izmir, Istanbul, Bursa, Bursa, Edirne, Tekirdağ from the 1830s to the present day. 

Although most of the ketubbot exhibited were Sephardic, there were also ketubbot from the Ashkenazic and Karaite communities brought from Crimea and one ketubbah of Iranian origin.
 
It was an interesting exhibition to trace the Ketubbah (and thus the Jewish community that existed in the Ottoman lands) through the years.