Nitzan Schlezinger is all too familiar with security concerns. She lost her father, Asaf Schlezinger, during the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel. He was the chief paramedic at the Nova Music Festival and was killed while treating the injured.

"I imagine him really like a bright spot in this darkness," she said.

Nitzan channeled her grief into action and delivered her speech in English about her father's bravery to a synagogue in Manchester, England. That same synagogue was attacked on Thursday by a man, who police say, rammed his car into worshippers on the Jewish high holy day of Yom Kippur, and then stabbed some.

"Every time I see something like that it's just devastating because can't you just go to your synagogue, right next to your home, and pray," Schlezinger said.

The attack in Manchester comes amid a global rise in antisemitism and after attacks on other places of worship in the U.S. Last weekend, a man opened fire at a Mormon church in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan then set fire to the church.

Locally, two juveniles were arrested earlier this week for setting fires to churches in Marblehead and Beverly. No one was hurt in those incidents.

Security increased at places of worship

"I think there's certainly an increase and that's why you see armed agents within churches and synagogues," said Beverly Police Chief John LeLacheur.

LeLacheur says his officers increase patrols during significant holidays, but many places of worship have already decided to take security into their own hands.  

"Most of those communities have hired their own security or they've been able to get equipment to be able to watch doors, new alarm systems, and monitor the people coming out," LeLacheur said.

Nitzan says it is an unfortunate reality for her community, but it does not change who she is at her core. 

"The darkness won't disappear. We just need to find other ways to spread the light and be ourselves and show other people that we're not afraid," she said.