B’nai Torah, a 30-year-old Reform congregation in St. Peters that had dwindled to 13 families and individuals, has joined Congregation Shaare Emeth, which will welcome its newest members at this Friday’s Shabbat service.

Rabbi Jim Bennett of Shaare Emeth said members of B’nai Torah made the first move. The transition,  which Bennett described as a “partnership,” and transfer of all of B’nai Torah’s assets, primarily a converted home at 1701 St. Peters Howell Road and items related to worship, were effective Tuesday. 

“They approached us with enthusiasm,” Bennett said. “It’s been easy and pleasant.”

Madi Brown, B’nai Torah’s immediate past president, echoed Bennett’s sentiment.

“It was not difficult to do,” said Brown, who used to live in St. Charles County and now lives in Ballwin. Shen was president from 2011 until earlier this year, as well as president about 15 years ago for two years. 

“Rabbi Bennett and his staff were the warmest people to work with,” she said.

For a congregation that at its peak had about 45 families, the future for B’nai Torah was difficult at best, Brown said. 

“This was one of the hardest decisions for me in my life,” she said. “We are not broke, but we could see where we are going. We are not destitute by any means.”

Bennett said the new congregants from B’nai Torah will be recognized and made to feel welcome at Friday’s service. 

He said Shaare Emeth aims to find ways to honor the B’nai Torah legacy, perhaps by highlighting its “beautiful ark” and a stained glass window the small congregation had in the house it had converted into a synagogue. 

Bennett said he and his congregation, the largest in the St. Louis region with 1,700 families, regard the partnership with B’nai Torah’s members as an “opportunity to reach out to Jewish families and unaffiliated families in St. Charles County and throughout the area.”

In 2010, B’nai Torah split into two congregations, then reunited less than a year later. Brown said that transition wasn’t a factor in to the decision to join Shaare Emeth.