Daniel Schiff

This donor has, effectively,“bought” the building or the institution himself and, hence, it is more difficult to argue with his privilege to name what amounts to“his” building. This, however, does not address the normative situation in which the donor offered naming rights is one among numerous donors who contribute to the project In that circumstance, Rabbi Adret reminds us,“even the Torah itself adopts this trait, for it records and publicizes those who perform good deeds.” In the case of multiple givers, then,“those who perform g good deeds” clearly subsumes everybody who has made a tzedakah contribution: there is no suggestion that Rabbi Adret would advocate omitting those who gave smaller amounts from the T oraitic mandate to record and publicize their mitzvah. Hence, we might appropriately understand Rabbi Meir to be conveying that unless one individual has shouldered the entire tzedakah burden alone, the involvement of al who have participated should be recorded and publicized, without singling out one or another for special recognition.

But Rabbi Meir goes further. He communicates that“the giver should be certain that his main objective is to identify with the needs of the recipient” and that“his desire for recognition should be an encouragement, and not the reason for the donation.” In other words, in matters of tzedakah, while giving is what counts, the motivation behind the giving ought not to be ignored. When the donation of 2 particular gift is wholly dependent on the recognition or reward afforded the donor, the“main objective” is subverted in a way that 1s unacceptable to Rabbi Meir . Moreover, when attractive inducements are known to be on offer to those who provide substantial donations the determination of whether the“desire for recognition” is just a"

“encouragement” or has become the“reason” for the donation becomes difficult indeed. It seems fair to assert, therefore, that the only way to be certain that the line between the two is not crossed i to avoid offering special inducements to“big givers” from the start.

In the book of Leviticus, the Torah instructs“lo teh dar p nei gadol” you shall not honor[literally,“beautify”] the great(literally,