lease it out. So for how long may he lease it? For one year, for example. But fifty years is too long. It should be said to him: You are presently entitled to it, and we do not deny your entitlement; but you may not lease it for a period beyond that which you are likely to live. This is right, because if he leases it out while the adopted ruling is that the lease is not dissolved, he is infringing upon the rights of others, and this is impermissible.

May the judge lease it out for a long period, or not? This depends on what serves the interest. If he considers it in the interest to lease it for a long period, he may do so; otherwise, he should lease it for approximately two or three years, so that the members of the other generations of beneficiaries are not deprived.

May the first generation of beneficiaries take the rent in advance—that is, receive it beforehand? For example, a person has been made the beneficiary of this shop as an endowment. A company comes to him and says: “I wish to lease this shop from you for ten years, and I will pay you the rent now in cash: ten thousand each year; ten times ten makes one hundred thousand.”

This is not permissible. That is, the first generation of beneficiaries may not take the rent in advance, because he does not know: he may die, and if he dies, it becomes part of his estate. He may also spend it, in which case it would be lost to the second generation of beneficiaries. Thus, he may not take the rent in advance.

But if he says, “I will take the rent in advance because I am going to renovate the endowment, and the endowment needs renovation,” then this is permissible, because it is in the interest of the endowment. So long as it serves the interest of the endowment, there is nothing objectionable in it.

His statement: “And if he leases out a house and the like,” such as a shop, for example.