Rabbi Gary Berenson was in the middle of leading a sabbath service for his congregation at Etz Chaim Synagogue on Congress Street Saturday morning when a member received an alert on his cell phone about the shootings in Pittsburgh.

A moment of stunned silence followed.

“It was a dramatic pause. We fell silent and stopped for moment and then we talked for a moment about what it meant and then we had to continue with our service,” said Berenson.

Berenson said he felt an immediate connection to the Pittsburgh congregation, the Tree of Life, which was gunned down during sabbath services. Etz Chaim means Tree of Life in Hebrew.

“It affected us in a direct way because it was exactly what we were doing at that time. It’s not that far away. Pittsburg is like our back yard . It gives us pause for thought, said Berenson, whose congregation includes about 300 families. The shooting, which left 11 dead, has shaken both the Jewish, religious and secular communities across Maine alike in the same week that saw the arrest of a Florida man for allegedly mailing pipe bombs to prominent Democrats around the country. The incidents have led Jewish congregations across the state ask for stepped up police patrols as they rushed to beef up their own security measures. Many congregations are holding special services to help members grieve.

The shootings also came at time when anti-Semitic violence is up both in New England and nationally. The Anti-Defamation League found the number of Anti-Semitic incidents rose 57 percent in 2017 and 2018, the largest single year increase since ADL started tracking incidents in 1979. The ADL reported that there 1,986 anti-Semitic incidents nationwide in 2017 and 2018, with four anti-Semitic incidents in Maine, three in Vermont and five in New Hampshire. Police in Portland and across the country police have stepped up patrols of places of worship. .

Jews who were observing the sabbath restrictions on the use of phones, computers and television, didn’t find out about the shootings until the sabbath ended Saturday evening.

Cantor Beth Strassler of Congregation Etz Chaim in Biddeford, said she heard about the shootings late Saturday from another congregation member.

“Horror, just horror,” Strassler said of her reaction to the news.

“To take the most solemn time of the week and pierce it with violence is so vile,” she said.

Strassler said she has heard from interfaith religious leaders from the area, which has been a comfort.

“I expect a good number of them will come tonight,” she said.

Strassler said the congregation, which formed in 1906 and includes about 100 families, has been through this before following other shootings aimed at American Jews. She said the York County interfaith community has reached out to her congregation.

“I have heard from other church leaders. They are reaching out and saying ‘we stand with you’,” she said.

Strassler said she expect many of them to be at a special 6 p.m. service Sunday at the congregation’s Biddeford synagogue.

“People are just scared and afraid of others. There’s no national presence to allay those fears so people don’t know what to do and when they don’t know what to do they tend to worry about people who are different than them,” said Strassler.