By: Alexandra Luna

“Grab the set” bubbe yelled frantically from the kitchen! The doorbell rang and Mrs. Feldman let herself in. I raced around setting up the tiles and arranged the flowers in the vase. The table was set exactly the way they have it every week. “Oh, dear god” bubbe dropped the Kugel onto the counter and I heard her say a few bad words and that it was burnt. “We can’t play without Kugel. It’s tradition and tradition is extremely important to our family” 

Just then the doorbell rang several more times and one by one, the four ladies headed down the hall into the living room. We nodded our heads and exchanged fake smiles and half hugs as they passed by. I commented on how nice it was to see them and how lovely they looked and then rolled my eyes when they were gone. It seemed like I wasn’t paying attention, but I listened as they mentioned their children and grandchildren, weddings, parties and who wasn’t invited. Mrs. Silver died, The Rabbi was on a trip and tickets for the high holidays were sold out.

Gossip was the background noise as the tiles were shuffled. This was a special mahjongg set handed down from bubbies grandmother from New York. She had already told me many times she was leaving all 166 tiles to me in her will. I had learned a long time ago that mahjongg sets were all different. In China they had 136 tiles and in the U.S either 152 or 166. Why? I had no idea. I only knew that her set of 166 were hand painted meant everything to her and would be mine one day. I couldn’t imagine that I would ever want to play mahjongg though. 

The tiles were shuffled, and the dice were rolled. Mrs. Greenstein went first, and I sat down and watched as they took one and discarded one over and over. They talked and laughed as the tiles moved around. The object of the game is to get pairs and rows. It can take a while before someone wins a round, but that’s ok because the highlight of the game was being together.

During their laughs and giggles I read the instructions on mahjongg and found a short story about the history of the game that started in Shanghai in the late 1800s. It said many years ago tourist brought over the game from China and it became very popular. The company Parker Brothers started manufacturing the games and before long men and women were playing mahjongg’s all over the United States. It was especially popular during and after World War II with Jewish women. It gave them a reason to be together, share food, gather and tell stories. 

My bubbe played mahjongg with this group of women every Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. for over 40 years. They had been through marriages, divorces, births and deaths. It was something that was never cancelled no matter what. My mom played it too with her own group of friends and I wondered exactly why it was so popular and special especially with Jewish women. 

That was eight years ago since my precious bubbe left that mahjongg set to me. I had moved it from Atlanta to Dallas and back. Now once a week every Tuesday at 11:00 a.m my closest friends and I play mahjongg because as my bubbe used to say “it’s tradition and tradition is extremely important to our family”.