It’s Monday morning, my favorite time of my favorite day of the week. (Really!) My morning ritual begins after my son leaves for school and my husband leaves for work.
No, I’m not referring to vacuuming, or food shopping, or rushing off to瑜伽or an office. Instead, I begin preparing for my weekly mah jongg game.
每个星期一，我和我的长岛犹太灵魂姐妹会在上午11:30聚在一起参加我们的每周比赛。黛安，一个三个孩子的全职妈妈，三年前她丈夫死于胰腺癌。艾米是两个女孩的妻子和母亲，是一名社会工作者和生活教练。罗兹，两次癌症幸存者，已婚，三个孩子的母亲，全职心理学家。艾琳已婚，是两个孩子的母亲，也是一名生活教练，专门帮助年轻人度过那些不确定的“现在怎么办？“人生的阶段。至于我，我是一个有三个儿子的已婚母亲。我也是一个宗教学校的老师，一个儿童瑜伽老师，我的寺庙姐妹会主席，一个出版的作家。
基本上，我们是五个四五十岁的女人，有着不同的职业、风格和兴趣，但我们有着共同的激情：麻将.
It’s true that this challenging, old Chinese tile game may have initially brought us together, but what keeps us together, week after week, is the camaraderie. Since starting our game about seven years ago, I’ve noticed how truly magical things happen as tiles are picked, passed, and placed on our racks. Our weekly games have fostered the kind of loyal friendship that generates a true sisterhood.
My mah jongg group has helped me to DARE — an acronym I created with my fellow players’ first initials. Diane is dynamic and helps me to dig deep into my feelings. She has shown me how she found strength while dealing with her husband’s illness and, sadly, after his death. Amy is effervescent, an excellent listener and problem solver, and always full of hope for what is possible. Roz is resilient — she resonates with fortitude, passion, and support. Eileen is reflective and is a friend who holds up a mirror for me to look into, to help me see what she sees and to help me to look at the things I might avoid while looking in my own mirror. These special women helped me DARE to be strong when my husband was diagnosed and treated for cancer two years ago, and they gave me support and friendship when I desperately needed it.
当我们在一起玩游戏的时候，没有一个主题是禁区：孩子、年迈的父母、婚姻、性生活、职业和健康，以及我们的希望和梦想都被讨论过。我们用礼物和蛋糕来庆祝球员的生日。我们为彼此的荣誉而欢欣鼓舞。当姐姐需要帮助之手、倾听之耳或需要拥抱之心时，我们支持她。（事实上，我一直深受姐妹们的鼓舞，甚至出版了一本回忆录，ios下载beplay麻将星期一关于我们的团队。）
当然，我们不是唯一麻将妹毕竟，这个游戏在这个国家已经玩了大约100年了。据俄勒冈大学历史系助理教授安妮莉丝·海因茨（Annelise Heinz）介绍，麻将于20世纪20年代被美国商人约瑟夫·巴布科克（Joseph Babcock）带到美国，巴布科克在上海工作和生活时就熟悉了麻将。这个跨太平洋的游戏随着“东方”时尚和装饰的潮流而变得非常流行。在那个时代，麻将在美国风靡一时，除了小精灵的发型、时髦的服装、爵士乐和查尔斯顿。
After about a decade, however, the Asian cultural fad had died out, and mah jongg lost its luster among many American players. What’s more, players grappled with inconsistent rules and hands, causing much confusion and discontent in the mah jongg community.
Enter our great麻将matriarch, Dorothy Meyerson. She was a founding member of the National Mah Jongg League, which was created in 1937 in Manhattan, along with a few other female Jewish mah jongg pioneers. The league standardized rules as well as specific hands, which were printed on a tri-fold playing card and became an essential feature of any American mah jongg game. (But that’s not all: Meyerson wrote a mah jongg instruction book calledThat’s It她主持了一个电视节目麻将我n the 1950s. Wow!)
在迈尔森公司的努力下，麻将经历了一次流行的复苏，尤其是在纽约的犹太人圈子里。这项运动成为一种重要而有力的方式，让女性聚集在一起，特别是在许多家庭离开城市，前往郊区的家中，以及在卡茨基尔度过悠闲的夏天之后。事实上，麻将甚至在了不起的梅塞尔太太-在第二季的《卡茨基尔》中，我们看到乔尔的母亲雪莉在施泰纳山度假村的麻将桌旁彻夜狂欢！
不管怎么说，麻将姐妹关系仍然很牢固。这个National Mah Jongg Leaguetoday claims 400,000 members, and even celebrities are getting in on the act: Last year, no less an icon than莎拉·杰西卡·帕克posted on Instagram about her love of the game.在Fa苹果beplaycebook上，Mah jong，就是这样！boasts some 25,000 members, and we bond over our love of the game. We ask etiquette and rules questions, post pictures of hands we won with pride or colorful snapshots of elaborate snack stations, and fun, festive cocktails.
然而，最重要的是，当我在Facebook上浏览mah jongg群组时，我被我看到的全国各地的小姐妹们的一瞥惊呆了——这些女性群组，就像我们的，她们在玩耍、分享苹果beplay和联系。在网上，我看到过20多岁和30多岁的女性玩麻将的照片，有些是在孩子的幼儿园或通过母亲或朋友介绍的。有四五十岁的妇女，围着麻将桌，从家里和工作中逃了几个小时。有些女性能够回顾几十年的游戏，她们仍然致力于游戏，挑战自己的思想和记忆。
偶尔也会有选手为她庆祝100岁第在麻将桌旁过生日。和迈尔森一样，这些女人也是麻将matriarchs——莎拉,丽贝卡利亚的,这个研究beloved game. These women have helped pass down their passion for the game — as well as the tradit我对他们的女儿和ios下载beplay孙女的支持和姐妹情谊。正如我们在犹太传统中经常说的那样，这种爱代代相传-l'dor v'dor公司.
垂柳摄影/盖蒂图片社
