Disgracing Pessukim

Disgracing Pesukim

Question

Our kollel is working on a fundraising campaign. We were given a first draft for a brochure, and it had numerous pesukim from Bereishis in the background, including the name of Hashem as it is written in a Sefer Torah. Since this design will be incorporated into a flyer that will later be thrown away, it was clear to us that a second draft without pesukim was needed. My question is: May we can maintain a similar theme, e.g., have a picture of a page of Shulchan Aruch in the background, if we make the letters so faint that it is close to impossible to read them?

Thank you.

R.D.T

Rav Auerbach 

I understand that it is certainly appropriate for your campaign brochure to have pesukim or even Shulchan Aruch in the background. However, as you yourself mention, these pamphlets will be disposed of, and it is certainly not befitting the honor of these Torah sources to be thrown in the garbage. 

Even if you make the letters of the pesukim extremely faint, there will always be people who can still read them, albeit with great difficulty. This type of writing is still considered kesivah, and to print them and dispose of them would be a disgrace to the Torah. I suggest that you create a different type of background, e.g., blur the writing so that no one can read the sources, and this will not present the above problem.