Rothschild Estate

60 Pa. D. & C.2d 337, 1973 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 392
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedFebruary 23, 1973
Docketno. 189 of 1972
StatusPublished

This text of 60 Pa. D. & C.2d 337 (Rothschild Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rothschild Estate, 60 Pa. D. & C.2d 337, 1973 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 392 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1973).

Opinion

KLEIN, A. J.,

Benjamin S. Loewenstein, I. Jerome Stern, Daniel C. Cohen, Mayer I. Blum, Jacob C. Gutman, Samuel A. Green, Solomon Grayzel, Albert M. Cohen and Benjamin Hoffman, succeeding trustees under Deed of Trust of Edward L. Rothschild, settlor, dated September 8,1915, have filed a first account stated from September 8, 1915, to February 1, 1972.

By writing dated May 28, 1914, Edward L. Rothschild offered Congregation Beth El of Philadelphia to erect a synagogue building for the congregation on land in West Philadelphia to be selected and purchased by him under certain terms, stipulations, conditions and provisions set forth in the offer. On June 2,1914, the offer was accepted by the congregation.

The following conditions and provisions were set forth in the offer of May 28, 1914, as recited in the agreement dated August 25, 1915, and the deed of indenture dated September 8, 1915, described below:

“1. The Congregation in its service and in the conduct of the school and in its teachings as well as in all other ways appertaining to its management and direction shall be devoted to the preservation of the knowledge and practice of historical Judaism as contained in the laws of Moses and expounded by the Prophets and Sages of Israel in Biblical and Talmudical writings.

“2. The synagogue shall be erected on land situated in West Philadelphia to be selected and purchased by the donor. Said land and the building thereon shall be in the name of the donor and paid for by him together with the furniture thereof and on its completion he will convey the same to nine trustees to be [339]*339named by him who shall see to it that the conditions and agreements relating to said gift are carried out and complied with. Each of said trustees shall continue to act during the term of their respective lives or until any of them resigns in which event the remaining trustees shall have power to name and appoint his successor and the person so appointed shall have all the authority and general power conferred on and possessed by the original trustees. Said trustees shall have power if the laws of Pennsylvania shall so warrant at any time to procure a Charter of incorporation under the name and title of ‘the Trustees of the Rothschild Memorial Synagogue.’ and the title to said synagogue building and the lot on which it is erected shall then be vested in and conveyed to said corporation by the said trustees.

“3. No encumbrance by way of mortgage or other lien or charge shall ever be placed by said Congregation on said lot of ground and synagogue building or upon its interest therein, nor shall the Congregation have power to sell or dispose of said lot of ground and synagogue building or any of the furniture contributed by the donor.

“4. The Congregation Beth El shall retain its present corporate name and organization. If any amendment to its Charter should be necessary in the opinion of the donor to carry out the terms of this offer on its acceptance by the said Congregation, said amendment shall be duly applied for in the Court of Common Pleas, with particular reference to the declaration of principles which is contained in Item one of this communication.

“5. The Synagogue building is designed as a memorial to my parents the late Lippman and Henrietta Rothschild.

“The Synagogue building shall be known in per[340]*340petuity as the ROTHSCHILD MEMORIAL SYNAGOGUE, CONGREGATION BETH EL and a suitable permanent tablet, the wording of which shall be made by the donor shall be placed on the street front of the building and on the inside of the synagogue.

“6. Provision shall be made that there shall be at all times one hundred free seats in the Synagogue to be awarded to members of the Jewish Community who may be deemed worthy of being furnished with free accommodation at the services of the Congregation and for the education in the school of the children of those or other deserving Jewish people.

“7. In case of the violation or alleged violation of the first stipulation and condition herein contained and the failure of said Congregation to carry out and observe the principles therein set forth, the adjudication of the matter shall be left to the Trustees appointed by the donor and the decision of a majority of them shall be final and binding, and the said trustees shall have power and authority on such finding, had after thirty days notice to the Congregation to comply with said stipulation and condition to Item 1, to reconvey said lot of ground and building to the donor thereof, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns. The conveyance of a majority of said trustees to the donor shall work and effect a full, complete and absolute reversion of the title to him which shall then vest in him, his heirs and assigns in fee, absolutely.”

Pursuant to the offer and acceptance, Edward L. Rothschild purchased a lot of ground on the northeast corner of Fifty-eighth and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia, Pa., and erected thereon a synagogue and school building for the use and occupancy of Beth El Congregation.

[341]*341On August 25,1915, an agreement was entered into between Edward L. Rothschild and Congregation Beth El for the purpose of carrying out the terms of the offer and acceptance. And on September 8, 1915, Edward L. Rothschild and Caroline A. Rothschild, his wife, by deed of indenture, conveyed to Edward L. Rothschild, the Reverend Charles I. Hoffman, Ephraim Lederer, Jacob Krieger, Gustavus Sickles, Dr. Myer Solis-Cohen, Sigmund Strauss, Carl Herr-man and Louis Blumberg, Trustees of the Rothschild Memorial Synagogue appointed by Edward L. Rothschild, land at Fifty-eighth and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia, Pa., and the synagogue and school he had erected thereon, for the use and occupancy of the congregation under the terms and conditions of the offer and acceptance hereinbefore referred to.

The indenture provided farther, as recorded in Deed Book ELT 517, page 475, of the City and County of Philadelphia, that:

“IT IS UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED between the parties hereto that in carrying out the first provisions stipulated by said Edward L. Rothschild and agreed to by said congregation Beth El to wit;

“ ‘THE congregation in its service and in the conduct of the school and its teaching as well as in all other ways appertaining to its management and direction shall be devoted to the preservation of the knowledge and practice of historical Judaism as contained in the laws of Moses and expounded by the Prophets and Sages of Israel in Biblical and Talmudical Writings,’ the said congregation shall at all times conduct its worship and services according to the ritual now in use in said congregation without change or abridgement and recite the prayer and the portion of the law and the Prophetic section in hebrew, and that the men of the congregation shall always [342]*342worship in said synagogue with covered heads and said congregation shall not at any time authorize the doing of any act in violation of the seventh day sabbath.

“THE said congregation solemnly agrees and pledges itself to observe these stipulations in good faith as the primary consideration on which this agreement is based.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pruner Estate
162 A.2d 626 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1960)
Wiegand v. the Barnes Foundation
97 A.2d 81 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1953)
Bodine Trust
239 A.2d 315 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 Pa. D. & C.2d 337, 1973 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 392, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rothschild-estate-pactcomplphilad-1973.