An 1895 Ruling on the Estate of Hillel Lichtenstein

About three years ago I identified a document from the Ashkenazi Beth Din of Jerusalem that was signed by my ancestor Zevulun Hirschensohn who served as a judge on the Beth Din in the last three years of his life 1893–1896. Zevulun Hirschensohn and his family moved to Jerusalem from Bialystok in 1872 to work as the Rosh Yeshiva of the Beth Hillel Yeshiva, which was run by the Grodno Kollel in Jerusalem, and to work as a teacher in the Beth Yaakov (Churva) Synagogue School. A eulogy from shortly after he passed claimed that he wrote many essays on his Talmudic scholarship, though he never published them and the manuscripts probably do not exist anymore. 

Below is an image, transcription, and translation of one of the rulings that the Beth Din issued while Zevulun Hirschensohn was a judge.

בס״ד

בדבר הדוד׳ שהי׳ לפנינו בד״צ החמ׳, בין הרבנים ממוני כולל אונגארין הי״ו, ובין הרה״ג עקיבא יוסף שלעזינגער נ״י בענין הנחלה עשרה קיראט קרקע "בפתח תקוה" שקנה חותנו של הר״ר עקיבא יוסף, הוא הרב הגאון הצדיק מו״ה הלל ליכשטיין זצוק״ל ונחתם במתנה לכולל אונגארין הי״ו, וכפי המבואר בספרו "משכיל אל דל" שהדפיס בחייו את המכתב מהממונים להודעה גלויה והרבנים הממונים מכרו את הנחלה הנז׳ לטובת הכולל לבנין בתים, והר״ר עקיבא יוסף הנז׳ מערער ע״ז וטען מצדו כי שני קיראט מזה שייך לו שנתן מעות לחותנו גם עסק בזה, וחותנו ז״ל החליט לו שני קיראט קרקע, גם טען הר״ר עקיבא יוסף הנ״ל מצד יורשי המנוח, ומצד האלמנה כמה טענות, (ועפ״י הרשאה מהם), ושלא הי׳ רשות לחותנו ליתן במתנה ולהפקיע שעבוד האלמנה, והממונים השיבו לו בטענותיהם, גם טענו בבירור שאין לו מאומה ושום חלק בזה, והראו לפנינו מכתב מחותנו הרה״צ ז״ל שהשיב להם שלא לחוש לדברי המערער, ולפי דבריהם כוונתו הי׳ על השני קיראט אשר תבע אז הרה״ג עקיבא יוסף הנ״ל ואחרי שמענו טענותיהם, וגם ראינו המכתבים של יורשי המנות זצ״ל כי גם המה מחכימים על המתנה הנ״ל באין מוחה ומערער, יצא מאתנו עפ״י הדין שאין להר״ר עקיבא יוסף ולהאלמנה הנז׳ שום עירעור על הנחלה הנ״ל, אך נחשדו הממונים שיחי׳ והתחייבו א״ע בחיוב גוש׳ שבאם שב[?]ר הר״ר עקיבא יוסף שהאמת כדבריו שחותנו זצ״ל במכתב הנ״ל שכתב שלא לחוש לדברי המערער לא כיון על השני קיראט שתבע אז, שיַראה פס״ד לפני הבד״צ כפי טענתו שטען שיש לו פס״ד מכבר על השני קיראט הנ״ל, אזי עליהם לתת לו שני קיראט קרקע, וקיבלו זאת עליהם בקגא״ס והמכר שמכרו הרבנים הממונים הנ״ל הוא בתוקף ועוז, כ״ז יצא מאתנו ובאנועה״ח יום ה׳ י״ב תמוז תרנ״ה פעה״ק ירושלם תובב״א

נאם חיים יעקב שפירא מקאוונא
ונאם שאול אלחנן בהר״א ז״ל
ונאם זבולון בראהאצ״ה ז״ל מביאלישטאק
(מקום חותם בד״ץ)

With the help of Heaven,

Regarding the [...] matter that was before us, the undersigned court of justice, between the Rabbis officers of the Hungarian collective, G-d protect them, and between The Rabbi the treasure Akiva Joseph Schlesinger, G-d protect him, regarding the estate of ten carats of land in Petach Tikvah that the father-in-law of Rabbi Akiva Joseph, who is The Rabbi The Treasure the Righteous Our Teacher Hillel Lich[t]enstein the memory of the righteous and holy one is a blessing, acquired and signed as a gift to the Hungarian collective, G-d protect them. According to what was explained in his [HL's] book "Enlightening the destitute," that printed, during his lifetime, the letter from the officers as a public announcement, so the Rabbi officers sold the mentioned estate for the benefit of the collective to build houses. The mentioned Rabbi Akiva Joseph protests this and claims from his side that two carats from this [estate] belong to him since he gave money to his father-in-law he was also involved with this. His father-in-law, his memory is a blessing, declared for him two carats of land. The mentioned Rabbi Akivah Joseph also claimed several claims from the side of the inheritors of the deceased and from the side of the widow (from their directive) that his father-in-law did not have the right to give a gift and break the lien of the widow. The officers [of the collective] responded to him with their claims, they also claimed with clarity that he has no portion of this [property]. They showed before us a letter from his father-in-law, The Rabbi The Righteous his memory is a blessing, that he answered them not to worry about the claims of the protester. According to their words his intention was about these two carats of land that the mentioned Rabbi Akiva Joseph claimed. After we heard their claims and we also saw the letters of the inheritors of the deceased, the memory of the righteous is a blessing, for they were also informing about the mentioned gift with contradicting or protesting, we ruled according to the law that Rabbi Akiva Joseph and the mentioned widow had no protest for the mentioned estate. However the officers suspected that they would be liable for this matter with a liability of [...] [...] [...] Rabbi Akiva Joseph that the truth was according to his words that his father-in-law, the memory of the righteous is a blessing, in the mentioned letter that he wrote no to worry about the claims of the protester he did not intend the two carats that he then claimed. When he showed a ruling before the just court according to his claim, that he claimed that he already had a ruling on the two mentioned carats. Then they had to give him the two carats of land, and they accepted this upon themselves through a proper transaction using a SUDAR. The sale that the mentioned Rabbi officers had sold was with strength and might. This was passed from us and we came to sign on Thursday 12th of Tammuz [5]655 (4th July 1895) here in the holy city Jerusalem May she be rebuilt speedily in our days Amen

Word of Chaim Jakov Schapiro from Kovno
Word of Shaul Elchanan son of Rabbi Avraham, be his memory for blessing
Word of Zevulun son of Zvi Hirsch, be his memory for blessing, from Bialystok

Link to the Auction Catalog entry (page 288 of the pdf)