Ketubat Yabamin – Sefrou, 1899

Ketuba document for yibbum marriage – marriage of a man to the wife of his brother, who died childless. Sefrou, Morocco, 1899.
The groom is Rabbi Yitzchak ben Rabbi Rafael ben Harush, and the bride (for whom he is performing the mitzvah of yibbum), wife of his brother Rafael – Simcha bat R" Yichya ben R' Machlouf ben Harush. "And the first-born who she bears will bear the name of his dead brother, so that his name not be erased from Israel".
Signed by Rabbi Abba Elbaz and Rabbi Machlouf Eliyahu Adahan – who adds the blessing "may he have a good omen". In the margins, there is a signed addition by Rabbi Abba Elbaz (probably writer of the Ketuba). Inside the Ketuba, it is written that it follows the customs of the Fez community exiled from Castile.
Rare Ketuba! Since the time of the Rishonim, Ashkenazim have had the custom not to perform yibbum but rather its alternative – chalitza. Even in Sephardic communities, chalitza is more common. Yibbum Ketubot were always written by leading dayanim, as we see here.
Rabbi Abba Elbaz (1851-1939) ben Rabbi Amram. One of the veteran dayanim in Sefrou, next to Fez. His library, with its wealth of books and famous manuscripts, is mentioned many times in the book Malchei Rabbanan. From his writings remain the manuscript of Din Abba, and the book Milei DeAbba was printed (Jerusalem, 1980).
36 cm. Fair condition, dry paper, restored tear on first line of Ketuba. Inscription on verso: Ketuba of the woman Simcha bat Yichya Harush, and rough draft of another Ketuba.