DescriptionHistoric New Zealand Ketuba or Yibbum (marriage contract).jpg | English: The thick parchment (?) document names, in Hebrew, the bride and groom, the groom's father (Jacob Levy), and the groom's brother, Solomon Levy. It includes a promise to take care of the bride (and/or offer to marry her) if the husband dies before any children are born (an ancient custom that was not expected to be carried out, but which represented that the brother would care for his sister in law if needed.The signatures are in English, and mark the wedding of two London Jews, Esther Solomon, whose writing is semi-illiterate, and Benjamin Levy, whose writing is more polished, possibly a reflection of his patrons at the Jews Hospital, a London charity that educated and cared for impoverished Jewish children, providing rudimentary vocational training but requiring rigorous adherence to Jewish rites. On the certificate, the witnesses are listed (two Jewish non-relatives, as was customary). Abraham Hort and Nathaniel Levin were important early settlers of Wellington, and this marks the first Jewish wedding in Wellington, New Zealand. |
Source | This was handed down to me by my grandmother. It was the wedding certificate of her great grandmother, Esther Solomon Levy (1824, Kent, England-1911, Victoria, BC). A note with it from another relative states that Esther had it notarized as authentic later in life. This probably coincided with the 1870's Victoria, BC marriage of her daughter, Phoebe (1854-1926), as an orthodox Jewish woman would be able to show that her own marriage was valid and her daughter properly Jewish. |