Chief Rabbinate Limits Ketubah Financial Sums to 360,000 Shekels

The Council of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has approved new rules for drafting the ketubah, the traditional Jewish marriage contract. From now on, the amount of the groom’s financial obligations to the bride is strictly limited: the document must specify no less than 36,000 and no more than 360,000 shekels.

The reform was prompted by an increase in legal disputes during divorce proceedings. At wedding ceremonies, grooms often entered multi-million sums into the ketubah out of a desire to impress guests or by perceiving the text as a mere formality. However, in the event of a divorce, rabbinical courts treated these figures as fully legally binding debt obligations.

As a result, many men found themselves having to pay unaffordable sums, which led to bankruptcy and dragged out divorce proceedings for years. The new restriction is designed to protect newlyweds from reckless promises and prevent deadlocks in the event of a possible separation of the spouses.

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