For generations of Jewish American life, mah jong has been a reason to gather, a way to build friendships, and an opportunity to connect across generations. Midrash & Mah Jong, a new Hebrew College Adult Learning course, invites participants to combine an evening of play with Jewish learning. Led by a group of mah jong enthusiasts along with instructor Rabbi Talia Young, the course brings together two distinct activities with a common purpose: creating community through shared, meaningful experience.
For Midrash and Mah Jong organizers Helene Gelber, Pam Norden, Judith Sydney, and Susan Wilk, the communal dimension is central to the game’s appeal. “It’s not even about the game; it’s just the opportunity to get together with people,” Helene explains. Inviting friends over to play offers a natural catalyst for conversation and connection. Around the mah jong table conversations about Jewish communal life, schools, and other shared concerns often emerge.
Mah jong arrived in the United States from China in the early 20th century. The game became especially popular among Jewish Americans, and in 1937, a group of Jewish women founded the National Mah Jongg League, establishing the standardized rules and annual card of winning combinations still used by American players today. The game found a home in synagogues, social clubs, summer resorts, and suburban living rooms, becoming an enduring part of Jewish communal life.
Helene is especially excited about bringing mah jong together with Jewish text study, another communal practice that has been part of her life for years. The combination offers a chance to deepen both experiences: bringing a little more Jewish meaning to the game and a little more playfulness to the learning. “There is something exciting about combining these two sort of very Jewishly rooted communal experiences together into one program or one evening,” she says. “It’s building community by learning Torah and by learning through the tiles.”
What does mah jong teach? The game demands flexibility. Players may begin with a plan, only to find that the tiles they need aren’t coming their way. “The real magic of the game isn’t pulling off the hand you originally wanted. It’s the pivot and knowing when to do so which is also important as a life lesson too,” says Judith Sydney, another Learning when to try a different approach is part of the challenge. “Oftentimes you find yourself halfway through the game, having find a new sort of path forward,” Helene says. “It’s okay. We shuffle things around, and we look at it with a new perspective, and then they see they have a path forward.”
“It’s like how a page of Talmud asks you to read the same verse or situation in entirely different ways, and why Torah is traditionally learned in a conversation between study partners,” says Rabbi Talia, who will teach the midrash portion of the evening. She is planning for the content to follow the rhythms of the Jewish year. “I love the way Judaism accompanies us through the cycles of the days, weeks and years together, helping us access the sacred through the energy of each season. Our first session will be during Hanukkah, for example, and we’ll study a midrash about Adam and Eve experiencing winter for the first time.”
As Rabbi Talia sees it, the text will provide another mode for participants to check in with themselves and each other, and maybe carry some of the learning back to their holiday observance or regular mah jong games. “There is a ritual component to mah jong, with people gathering regularly and following the patterns of the game,” she says. “It’s like another part of their spiritual life, and I want to connect that back to Judaism.”
Midrash & Mah Jong is open to players at all levels, though it is not an introductory mah jong class. Daytime and evening cohorts will meet monthly from December through April on Hebrew College’s shared campus in Newton, offering participants an opportunity to learn, play, and connect with others around the table.
Join us for Midrash & Mah Jong! The evening cohort meets from 7–9 p.m. on Dec. 7, Jan. 19, Feb. 8, March 16, and April 12. The course fee is $118, and financial assistance is available.
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