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How do I get a Ketubah of my greatfathers who lived in Turkey? My greatfathers were Turkish jews from the time of the Ottoman empire, I have their names and more information like birthday, parents, but I dont know what part of the Ottoman empire their were from. I want to get a Ketubah of them but I dont know were to start or how to request one. I dont speak turkish.

Thanks

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    Do you know what a Ketubbah is? – Double AA Aug 01 '17 at 20:19
  • I'm not sure if there's any way you can "request a ketubah". The Turkish government does not keep track of ketubot. And this is true for other countries as well, including the United States. You might try contacting the community they lived in. – ezra Aug 01 '17 at 20:27
  • My parents were secular and I learned judaism by myself, I think Ketubbah is a marriage certificate. Sorry, I may be confused. –  Aug 01 '17 at 20:27
  • @v8engine - Yes, a ketubah is a marriage document. But secular governments do not keep track of ketubot. – ezra Aug 01 '17 at 20:29
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    A Ketubbah is a contract a husband writes his wife guaranteeing her certain rights and privileges during and after the marriage. The wife holds on to it for the duration of the marriage. After that it might be kept as a keepsake by heirs or disposed of like any other obsolete document. – Double AA Aug 01 '17 at 20:33
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    Unless the community kept a record of the wedding, you would be unable to get a copy of it unless your ancestors passed it down in the family. Since the Ottoman Empire ended after the first world war, )over a century ago), I doubt that the community still exists in Turkey. In any case, since you do not know the village or town they ived in, I doubt if you can track it down. You would probably have to ask in ancestry.com or see if there is a geneology section in stackexchange. – sabbahillel Aug 02 '17 at 00:55
  • v8engine, you might be interested in this Stack Exchange: https://genealogy.stackexchange.com/ – ezra Aug 02 '17 at 01:49
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    @v8engine depending on when your grandparents lived under the Ottoman Empire, in which the Gov. Recognized Jewish Marriages, it is possible that they had their marriage certificate filed, though not the actual Ketuba itself (which is a religious documents). Though keep in mind that the files may have been lost over time (i.e. WWI WWII many docs were lost during that tumultuous period). Sometimes Ketubot are held within the family, which I'm assuming is not the case with your family. Unfortunately it might be lost to time... I'm sorry – Shoel U'Meishiv Aug 02 '17 at 06:47

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