Black and white photograph of firefighters fighting the blaze at St. Paul's Temple of Aaron in 1952.

Temple of Aaron fire, 744 Ashland, St. Paul.

Firefighters fight the blaze at St. Paul's Temple of Aaron in 1952.

Black-and-white photograph of Rabbi Bernard Raskas.

Rabbi Bernard Raskas

Black-and-white photograph of Rabbi Bernard Raskas.

Black-and-white photograph of the Temple of Aaron's religious school in 1918.

School at Temple of Aaron

Black-and-white photograph of the Temple of Aaron's religious school in 1918.

Black-and-white matted photograph of the exterior of Temple of Aaron in 1916.

Temple of Aaron

Black-and-white matted photograph of the exterior of Temple of Aaron in 1916.

Black-and-white photograph of the interior of the Temple of Aaron during a worship service c.1960.

Temple of Aaron

Black-and-white photograph of the interior of the Temple of Aaron during a worship service c.1960.

Temple of Aaron, St. Paul

By 1910, some of St. Paul's Eastern European Jews had moved from their original immigrant neighborhoods in Lowertown and the West Side to the Cathedral Hill district. A group of Orthodox men met that year to discuss creating a new congregation there. It would conserve traditional Jewish practices, but modernize them to appeal to the next generation.

Black and white photograph of the front exterior of B'nai Abraham Congregation taken in 1922.

B'nai Abraham Congregation, Minneapolis

Photograph of the front exterior of B'nai Abraham Congregation taken in 1922. The building, at the corners of Ninth Street and Thirteenth Avenue South in Minneapolis, was originally a Methodist church.

B'nai Abraham Congregation, Minneapolis

B'nai Abraham Congregation grew out of the Romanian Jewish community that developed in South Minneapolis in the 1880s. The congregation prospered until the neighborhood's Jewish population shrank after World War II. A move to St. Louis Park in the early 1950s rejuvenated membership, and B'nai Abraham merged with Mikro-Tifereth in 1972, creating a new congregation: B'nai Emet.

Black and white photograph of the construction of a new building for B'nai Abraham Congregation (later B'nai Emet Synagogue) at Ottawa Avenue and Highway 7, St. Louis Park, December 8, 1958.

Construction of B'nai Abraham Congregation (later B'nai Emet Synagogue)

Construction of a new building for B'nai Abraham Congregation (later B'nai Emet Synagogue) at Ottawa Avenue and Highway 7, St. Louis Park, December 8, 1958.

B'nai Emet Synagogue, St. Louis Park

The product of multiple mergers between some of the Minneapolis area's oldest congregations, B'nai Emet Synagogue held worship services at its St. Louis Park location from 1972 until 2011. The synagogue enjoyed a moment in the spotlight as a shooting location for a 2009 Coen Brothers film before joining with Minnetonka's Adath Jeshurun Congregation in 2011.

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