Manuscript – Pinkas of Holdings of the Worms Community, with the Signatures of the Community's Monthly Parnasim – ...

Manuscript – Pinkas of Holdings of the Worms Community, with the Signatures of the Community's Monthly Parnasim – 1753-1797
Manuscript, Pinkas of Chazakot (holdings) of the Worms community, with the signatures of the community's monthly Parnasim (elected leaders), 1753-1797.
This Pinkas documents transfer of ownership, of houses and of places in the men's and women's sections of the synagogue, in the Worms community. It contains some two hundred written pages. Each page features a document related to a holding, recording names of buyers, sellers, recipients or heirs. These documents were for the most part written by the beadle of the community and signed by him, followed by the signature of the Parnas of the month.
The first page features an introduction from 1753, and the last record in the Pinkas is from 7th Kislev 1797. The introduction describes at length the purpose of the Pinkas: In 1726, due to several disputes regarding the possession of houses and places in the synagogue, the Parnas at the time initiated the keeping of a Pinkas recording all decisions related to holdings, to be written by the monthly Parnasim. After the first Pinkas was filled to capacity, the present Pinkas was put into use.
From early times, several German communities were led by 12 Parnasim, who would each serve for one month. One of the duties of the Parnas was to arbitrate on financial disputes. This Pinkas records the Parnasim of Worms in the second half of the 18th century; their signatures appear throughout (regarding the monthly Parnasim of Worms, see Minhagim DeKehillat Wermaiza by R. Yuspa Shamash, sections 65-67; ibid, section 295). Each document in this Pinkas states the system of announcing a holding – on three consecutive days of gathering (Mondays and Thursdays), and records the decision to register the possession under the name of one of the community members. The Pinkas contains records of dozens of community members, and the houses they lived in.
[122] leaves (most written on both sides, approx. 200 written pages), and many more blank leaves. 16 cm. Good condition. Stains. Tears and wear to several leaves. New leather binding.