At the event, leaders of those communities are inviting people of all faiths to gather and pray together for peace and mourn the deaths of Israelis, Lebanese, Iraqis and Americans who have been killed in fighting.
"The cease-fire's a wonderful thing, but at the same time, we are saddened by the hardening of hearts that's taken place and the people getting into stridency and religion-based ill will," said Jim Levinson, spiritual leader for the town's Jewish community. "That's something that most concerns us."
Javed Chaudhri, a leader of the Muslim community of Brattleboro, said this town is unique in the way that spiritual groups are able to come together.
He said he hopes this demonstration of understanding and common desire for peace will set a positive example.
"What we can show to the larger community, perhaps, is that the relationships that we have are built on such strong and common bonds that we can always find a way that eschews war," he said. "The shared spirit is so powerful."
The Brattleboro Interfaith Initiative, founded last year, is organizing the event. But many of the participants have been coming together for several years.
For the last four years, Brattleboro's Jewish and Muslim communities have met for joint worship services that Levinson and Chaudhri believe are the first of their kind in the nation.
Indeed, the Brattleboro interfaith community's example is leading the way in some neighboring communities. Similar services to the one on Aug. 25 are being planned in Greenfield, Mass., and Keene, N.H. Rupa Cousins, who heads the Brattleboro chapter of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, said the event will be more an affirmation of peace than a political statement against war.
Such prayer services are likely to continue if fighting continues in the Middle East, according to Lise Sparrow, minister of the Guilford Community Church.
Chaudhri, Levinson, Cousins, Sparrow and Barbro Hannson, minister of All Souls Church, have all played a role in organizing the event.
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