Should such holy endeavors even be tainted by such worldly considerations as money, especially on our holiest days of the year, when our thoughts and actions are to be concentrated on repentance? Isn’t having a public auction pandering to the worst motivations for giving tzedakah, rather than the highest, which Maimonides defined as being anonymous? On the other hand, because people on the high holidays are more prepared to try to make atonement for their sins, maybe it is in itself a mitzvah to create a situation that encourages and enables them to give more generously (and feel more generous), and thus to lessen the weight of their sins in their own eyes, and perhaps, in God’s eyes too.