ult

nal 52

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

marriage. She takes seriously the ritual of marriage as a statement of the halakhah as well as of theology and ethics. She proposes, therefore, to call marriage what it has become, Brit Ahuvim, a Lovers’ Covenant, and to create the covenant as a partnership, creating a ritual that reflects the way partnerships are created in the halakhah.

She points to three elements in the creation of a partnership:

1. A partnership deed

2. A statement of personal undertaking in which partners commit themselves to certain acts on behalf of the partnership

3. A kinyan or symbolic act of acquisition of the partnership

Her brit document contains the following elements:(1) a pledge of sexual exclusivity;(2) a commitment to the rights and duties of a familial relationship;(3) an assumption of joint responsibility for children;(4) a pledge to live a holy life as a Jewish family;(5) a pledge to fulfill communal responsibilities;(6) a pledge that either spouse will protect the dignity and comfort of the other in his or her dying.**

The text Brit Ahuvim, a Lovers’ Covenant, should be contras­ted with the text of the traditional ketubah cited above:

On___(day of the week) the day of(month) according to Jewish reckoning( month day year according to secular reckoning) in the city of vil.(state or region),(country),(Hebrew name) daughter/son of and, whose surname is and(Hebrew name) daughter/son of and, whose surname is____, confirm

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