Rabbi Clifford Librach was in Israel last month when the bombing by Hezbollah started. He was not in Haifa when it was bombed, but he had friends who were.
Still, he said he feels both the Lebanese and Israeli citizens' pain.
With that in mind, Librach is joining fellow members of the Association of Religious Communities in calling for three days of prayer at the end of this week.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday ARC is asking members of the greater Danbury community to engage in prayer in their homes.
The prayers should be for peace in the Middle East and for an end to the hostility that has engulfed Israel and Lebanon since the bombing started.
"Prayer is valuable," Librach said. "Prayer matters. It is urgent that all people of God pray for the success of those fighting evil. We have added prayers to that effect to every service (at the United Jewish Center)."Peace is not merely the absence of hostility. Peace is the celebration of security and national dignity."
Friday, Saturday and Sunday have been chosen as the days for this united prayer because they are holy days of the week for Muslims, Jews and Christians.
"I think all of us involved in ARC agree that the suffering of those who live in the Middle East is so deep and the problems are so complex that our best, and maybe only, hope for a just peace for all people is a united appeal to the Divine for guidance, humility and courage," said the Rev. Laura Westby, pastor of the First Congregational Church of Danbury.
"We need to do something," said the Rev. Angelo Arrando of St. Gregory the Great Church in Danbury, who is chairman of ARC. "No accusations are being made. We are just asking that people of good will gather together in their homes praying. "As human beings, we find it impossible to bring peace to the Middle East. But God can find a way to build those bridges. Only God can change human hearts."
Shazeeda Khan, a member of ARC's board of directors and a member of the Danbury Masjid, believes "God listens to all supplication" and that turning to God in unity will bring guidance to end the violence."These prayers should lead to the cessation of the killing of innocents," said Khan, of the Islamic Society of Western Connecticut, which serves Muslim families in the greater Danbury area.
Khan said it is a chilling sign of the times when so little value is placed on the cessation of killing. The answer is not in bombing, she said. It will have to come through talking.
"As a faith community, we need to speak for those not able to speak. We need to give voice to reason. We need to say, 'You need to step back and look what you are doing' to those in power," Khan said. "We would all like to be safe. When the respect for the sanctity of human life is lost, the ability to be safe is lost, too."
The Rev. Albert Audette of St. Peter Church in Danbury, a member of ARC, believes that the days of prayer will reach God.
"Praying privately in one's home forms a link between all the people praying," Audette said. "God sees that. He is the one who can change the hardened hearts of men and women to that of compassion. Until we get that change, peace will be an illusion."
Tuesday was the 20th day of fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
The United Nations reached a resolution that includes a cease-fire and the formation of an international armed force to secure Lebanon, according to Associated Press reports.