When Congregation Brothers of Israel closed the doors to its Greenwood Avenue synagogue earlier this week, it also closed the door to an era of Jewish community in Trenton.

Har Sinai Hebrew Congregation, until recently the only other synagogue remaining in Trenton, is already in interim quarters in Pennington as work proceeds on its new facility just off Route 31 in Hopewell Township.

During its final days in Trenton, on Jan. 26 and 27, Brothers of Israel celebrated with commemorative Shabbat services — honoring past and present leaders and marking the end of its 51-year-history in the modest shul on Greenwood Avenue, even as members looked forward to writing a new history in their new home on Washington Crossing Road in Newtown, Pa.

The Greenwood Avenue shul will be converted into a senior health-care center in association with the Trent Center senior housing facilities on the Greenwood Avenue campus.

On one of Brothers of Israel’s last Sunday mornings in Trenton, a small group of members davened the morning prayers together as sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows of the old sanctuary. Afterward, several members of the 230-family Conservative congregation gathered to express their feelings about the transition.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Andrea Kornblum of Yardley, Pa., a past congregational president who is coordinating the transition committee. “I’ve been here 22 years, and it’s an extended home for me. But knowing my synagogue family is coming with me — it’ll be wonderful. A synagogue is made up of the people, not the building.”

Barbara Wishnow of Yardley, a congregation vice president, said she could feel the warmth of the Greenwood Avenue synagogue from the moment she first walked through the doors as a youngster 50 years ago. “It’s a warm, wonderful, extended family,” she said, “and that family is moving to another location.”

Those bittersweet feelings echoed again and again in the members’ comments.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” said congregation membership chair Jeff Leventhal of Langhorne, Pa. “It’s hard, but it’s the right thing for the congregation. It’s an excellent move.”

“The family nature of the congregation has really been the glue that has kept us together,” added Alan Agree of Morrisville, Pa., a Brothers of Israel board member for more than 30 years.

Scott Gilinsky of Yardley, immediate past president of the congregation, noted that the congregation will bring its stained-glass windows and stately bronze ark doors to the new sanctuary in Newtown. “That’s a continuity,” he said.

“I’m excited about the move,” Gilinsky said. “What makes the building special is the people, and the people are coming with us to Newtown. I think we have to look toward the future — keeping our present family together and welcoming new Jewish families in our new home.”

Brothers of Israel “has always been a synagogue family,” said Victor Giuffre of Yardley, who is in his second term as congregation president. “It never really mattered where our location was. It’s a building, and family is family. Basically, we’ll miss it, but as a family, we need to provide our members with a secure future.”

Rabbi Howard Hersch, religious leader of the congregation, was also looking toward that future. “After half a century, we are moving again and, God willing, families out there will become part of our synagogue family as we build Jewish community in our new home,” Hersch said. “There are many mixed feelings and very strong emotions and ties to this particular site and facility — very positive ones. At the same time, I realize that we have to build for the future. We are our past, and we are our hopes and vision for the future.”

Sometimes, when he thinks about all the people who have been part of Brothers of Israel in its years on Greenwood Avenue, he gets teary-eyed, the rabbi said.

“In a way, their spirit is here,” he said. “Our task is to take that spirit and those values to our new home.”