Ketubah (Jewish Mariage Document) by Norman and Leah Finkelshteyn


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Structural Elements:
Heavy Bristle Board with underlayers.
Ink and Watercolor, Papercut, Goldleaf
Description:
Hamsas (hand shapes) are cut out. Text inside is pre-printed on separate paper which is pasted underneath the main Bristle Board.
Red Border around Hamsas has Gold Leaf vines.
White Vine decorations at the circumference of the image are cut in with blue paper pasted underneath.
The majority of the image is outlined in ink and colored with water colors.
Image Elements
Hebrew verse at top "Ani LeDodi, VeDodi Li" - "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" from "Song of Songs".
Middle Upper Element is Stalks of Wheat - symbolic of marital blessings of fertility and material joys ie: financial comfort, family peace.
Vines and Greenery have similar connotations.
Hamsa (hand shape) is symbolic of God's protection over house and household.
The Peacock similarly symbolic of divine protection, as well as fertility and marital happiness.
Middle Lower Element is the city of Jerusalem - symbolic of the Messianic promise of return.
(a fundamentaly important symbol in the Jewish wedding and Jewish spiritual life on the whole)
Musicians are symbolic of Joy, Celebration, Harmony - both at the wedding and in the marraige as a whole.
Additionaly, all of the musicians are distinctively Jewish and each has an individual symbolism -
The priestly Shofar blower resonates to the New Year celebration - the Shofar blasts calling to God for mercy and at the same time symbolic of God's promise of forgiveness and kind dealing.
It is also symbolic of the Messianic promise - recalling a poetic Biblical prophecy that the blast of a great Shofar will announce the Messiah.
The woman with the Tamborine is a representation of Miriam - Biblicaly, a female Messianic image, a symbol of God's care for his people through the agency of strong, loving womanhood.
Miriam also has important symbolism to the specific family.
The violinist (bald, in an old Russian uniform) - in general (at least for European Jewry), the "Fiddler" (Yiddle mit de Fiddle) has been taken to symbolise the bitter sweet, precarious joys of Jewish life, as well as yearning for Messianic redemption. As drawn, the figure has important connotations to the specific family.
The harpist is again symbolic of the yearnings and promise of redemption - the harp normaly standing for David, as used by a female figure it here recalls his grandmother Ruth as well.

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