“More lawyers are out of work, more business owners are out of work — people who are in categories of employment who have been extremely generous over the years,” he says, are unable to be as generous as in previous years. As a result, many are not showing up, embarrassed they can’t give as they did before. Easton tells everyone that they do not need to pay dues, or their full dues, to participate, although Jewish tradition has it that everyone should give of themselves whatever they can. So, Easton says, the synagogue is thinking about ways people can contribute other than by giving money — for example, unemployed lawyers contributing legal advice, or contractors doing repairs. http://www.npr.org/2011/09/27/140840049/the-hard-economics-of-high-holy-days