By Cailin Acosta
SAN DIEGO – Temple Emanu-El has weekly lessons on Mondays (except on Memorial Day) from 1:30 to 4 pm. Marcia Berneger patiently works with the newbies and they also have tables available for those who know how to play the 2024 card. It is $10 for the month and includes snacks. If interested, click here.
Hearing about the lessons reminded me of a Seinfeld episode of George Constanza moving back to his parents’ house and hearing his mother playing Mah Jongg in the living room. He had to listen to his mother’s friends call out tiles and his mother yelling “Mah Jongg!”
When I would hear about friends getting together to play Mah Jongg, I always asked if I could play. How hard can it be to learn? Sometimes I would hear I was too young to play.
Eventually, I told enough people I wanted to learn and see what this game was all about. Tifereth Israel put together in 2022 a “learn-how-to-play Mah Jongg” class that met every Wednesday morning. With COVID still a concern, we could not have any noshes and had to wear masks but somehow we got the rules down. I have been asked to be an alternate in a few groups that had been playing for decades. When I win a hand, it is always thrilling to be the newbie youngster who bested the experts. I enjoy the game since it is strategy and putting together a pattern. It is also nice when a few jokers get drawn to help your hand out.
Did you ever wonder how a Chinese-based game became popular played by Jewish women? According to a recent article by SDJW columnist Eva Trieger, due to the large influx of Asians to America, Mah Jongg dates back to the 1920’s. In 1937, the National Mah Jongg League was formed. Jewish women seeking to network with “the girls” and an outlet outside of childrearing, were drawn to the game.
According to Kveller‘s “The Jewish History of Mah Jongg Is Complicated” by Jessica Ferrari, “Mah Jongg in America created economic and cultural change, and for many Jewish women, it served as a symbol of cultural identity and assimilation.” In a time of anti-Asian and antisemitic hate crimes, the connection of Mah Jongg bridged the racial divide.
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Cailin Acosta is the assistant editor of San Diego Jewish World.
Nice article. You are the best Newbie in town!