Folk Ketubah with Local Customs: Argentine Jewish Ketubah Artists

As the world gets smaller — and increasingly modern — the possibilities of getting Ketubot from any corner of the world increasingly abound.

Why not get a Ketubah from a local Jewish artist from another corner of the world — and in doing so support local but talented Jewish designers from all over the world?

A decade ago, this would have been near impossible, for a few reasons, such as: the Internet wasn’t as propagated as it is now, so many Jewish artists in faraway lands, like Argentina, didn’t have reliable Internet access – and even if they did, they didn’t have an easy way to “get the word out” about their services or even get paid internationally. So a decade ago, everyone in New York bought Ketubot from New York artists; in Los Angeles, from Los Angeles artists; in Philadelphia from Philadelphian artists; and so forth.

But perhaps most importantly, until recently, the style of these International Ketubah artists was largely the same: the traditional, Jewish Ketubah style. Whether cheap or expensive; orthodox, conservative or reform; gay, lesbian, interfaith or traditional — the style was always the same: trees and flowers. Sun and desert. Jewish stars and Jewish hands.

But This is not a Ketubah is helping both fronts enter the future. On the one hand, we’re innovating by creating Ketubot that are modern and new, unique and different, cool and (in our opinion) the best around anywhere.

But, on the other hand, we are doing something even more profound: giving access to very talented and up-and-coming Jewish artists, from under-developed countries, access to international markets to promote themselves. Before This is Not a Ketubah, many of these most talented Argentine-Jewish designers had no means or method to show off their work to potential clients or buyers on the other side of the world. This is one reason why This is Not a Ketubah is dedicated to not only supporting Ieladeinu, the Argentine Jewish orphanage, but promoting the works, on the international markets, of the best Argentine and Latino Jewish artists.