CONCENTRATION—Playing Mah Jongg requires a balance between serious and not too serious according to some of the players who frequent the Monday Mah Jongg games at Congregation Neveh Shalom. At front table, from left clockwise are Carol Jaffee, Dorothy Dworkin, Leatrice Kaplan and Bryna Montgomery. Ann Kruss, founder of the weekly game, is at top left.
Mah Jongg–tiles that bind
By Polina Olsen
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“Mah Jongg in Florida is different,” Dorothy Dworkin explains above the sound of clicking tiles. “Not brutal, but they do take it seriously.”
“That’s just her group’s table rules,” says another, referring to adjustments all players make so that regulations fit their style.
And therein lies the saying: The Chinese took 1,000 years to develop one way to play Mah Jongg; the Jews took one year to develop 1,000 ways.
And, Mah Jongg keeps on developing at Neveh Shalom every Monday from 1 to 4 p.m.
“It’s been ongoing for about 10 years,” says Ann Kruss the group’s founder and former instructor. She started by teaching Mah Jongg at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center and the group has met since. “We have a different number every week and adjust our tables accordingly.”
Mah Jongg started in China, but nobody knows exactly when. American interest began with Charles Babcock, a standard oil representative in Soo Chow. He brought the first sets to the United States in 1920, and within two years the game took off. Reasons for popularity with Jewish women are explored in the documentary “The Tiles That Bind.”
Close proximity of tenement life, the way most women were home during the day, passage of tradition from mother to daughter —all are possible explanations.
“I have no idea why Jewish women like this game so much,” says Linda Kline, who was in Portland for the summer. Linda came home from school every day to her mother’s clicking tiles and “swore I’d never play this game.”
Still, when Kline moved to a new community, it provided a way to meet people. “Now, I really like it,” she says. “It’s reminiscent of our youth, watching our mothers play, but it’s also a common ground for women to get together.”
Today, 12 women gather at three tables—four players per game. Everyone is concentrating. Calling out the suit of discarded tiles provides background to occasional conversation:
• “Grand Central has the best Challah.”
• “They brought kosher meat all the way from Chicago.”
• “I played Mah Jongg one place you couldn’t talk or anything.”
• “That’s silly, it’s a game.”
Each woman keeps a small purse next to her tiles.
“The most you lose in one day is $2,” says Leatrice Kaplan.
Watching each other’s moves carefully, the women try to guess their opponent’s hand.
“Some bridge players actually look down on Mah Jongg,” Kaplan continues. “I maintain that if you play defensively, it takes just as much brain power as bridge.”
So, what makes someone good at Mah Jongg?
“Someone who knows how to laugh,” says one player.
“Someone who knows when to be quiet,” says another.
“It’s a balance between serious and not too serious, ” says a woman who has played for 45 years.
“You play to win,” says another as she shifts tiles on her rack. “You play to win,” she says again.