Hebrew Prenuptial Document

 

This ketubah, a special Jewish prenuptial agreement, belonged to Jakob Charles and Rivka Recha Jacobs. They were married on 20 February, 1942 in Palestine. The ketubah is an integral part of a traditional Jewish marriage that outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom towards the bride.

Jakob Jacobs and Recha Gallewski escaped from Germany to Palestine at the beginning of World War II. When their ship of about 3,600 Jewish refugees arrived in British-controlled Palestine, the government denied the travellers entry. The Jewish paramilitary organisation Haganah planted a bomb on their ship while it waited in Haifa Harbour. The bomb was meant only to damage the vessel and prevent it from sailing the passengers to a camp on Mauritius, but a miscalculation in the amount of explosives resulted in over 250 deaths. Jakob and Recha, both non-swimmers, survived by clinging to the wreckage. The refugees were then allowed to enter Palestine. The couple married and had two children before immigrating to Australia in 1951.

Donated by Alice Boothman (nee Jacobs)
M2007/084:016

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