Clicking Toward a Pastime of Yore
A California-based Web site is putting a new spin on Hanukkah this year, not with dreidels but with many a Jewish grandmother’s favorite pastime: mah jongg.
Starting after the Sabbath ends on Saturday, December 16, and continuing nightly through Saturday, December 23, the Web site mahjongtime.com will host the first-ever online Hanukkah mah jongg tournament.
Since the 1920s, when the ancient Chinese game first captured the American Jewish imagination, it has been associated with kibitzing Hadassah ladies sitting around card tables and drinking iced tea. It was primarily Jewish women who led to the creation of the National Mah Jongg League in 1937. The group now counts more than 275,000 members.
But don’t think they are all living in Miami Beach. Women in their 20s and 30s have been fueling a resurgence of the game in recent years, many yearning to reconnect with the culture of their grandparents. Mahjongtime.com is hoping to capitalize on this trend and pay homage to the American Jewish mah jongg tradition — just in time for the Festival of Lights and the holiday’s custom of friendly competition.
Top finishers can win money — and it won’t be made of chocolate. The four players at the final table will win cash prizes from $250 to $2,000, while every registered participant will receive a commemorative Hanukkah mah jongg tile. As a way to lure contestants, the Web site is offering an automated mah jongg table to the community center that registers the most players.
“It’s a very social game that takes a lot of thinking and strategy,” said William Sutjiadi, founder and CEO of mahjongtime.com. “It’s very easy to learn, but you need intelligence to win.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
