In 2009, Nancy Kay brought her love of mahjong to Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County, kickstarting a beloved tradition.
March 15 marks the community’s 11th annual mahjong tournament, which the Bethesda synagogue has run since 2013, except in 2021 and 2022.
“First, it started with a game night. Everyone came to play mahj,” said Kay, who co-chairs Beth El’s mahjong tournaments.
That monthly game night, starting in 2009, turned into what are now weekly mahjong sessions on Tuesday evenings. Kay spoke to the intergenerational nature of those Tuesday evening games.
“At one time, we had a woman who was close to 100 [who] would play, and the person next to her was 30 or 40 years old,” she recalled.
When Kay and co-chair Sheryl Karlsberg began the annual tournament — of about 30 players — there weren’t too many mahjong events of the kind in the DMV region. Now, there are “more tournaments than you can imagine,” according to Kay.
The number of players in Beth El’s tournament has more than doubled since.
“We’re approaching 19 tables, so we’re [at] like 70-something people, and we still have a few days left to register,” Karlsberg said in a March 2 interview.
Registration for the tournament closed on March 5.
The afternoon of March 15 is scheduled to begin with lunch and registration, followed by three rounds of four mahjong games. After each round, players switch tables so they can play with different people.
In 2013, Kay and Karlsberg organized and facilitated a full-day tournament. “We had a lot of people in the tournament circuit — people local and from the synagogue — where it was too much for them,” Kay said. “They didn’t want the whole day. So we now only do half-day.”
Abiding by National Mah Jongg League rules, players are competing for first-, second- and third-place prizes, which include mahjong-themed bracelets, earrings or socks, gift cards and free admission to next year’s tournament.
Kay and Karlsberg also offer door prizes and a 50/50 raffle.
Sales from gift baskets benefit Jewish National Fund or other Jewish organizations. This year, the proceeds will help send food and equipment to an IDF battalion, where a soldier originally from the Rockville area is graduating from military training. “We try to make it charitable,” Kay said.
“That’s part of what our organization does: donate money and try to help people,” Karlsberg said.
The community also participates for the love of the game, which extends beyond the tiles.
“I like the friendship that comes along with playing,” Karlsberg said. “I’ve met a lot of nice people through playing mahjong.”
Before moving to the Bethesda area about 15 years ago, Karlsberg played mahjong with a group of regulars in Massachusetts for two decades. “It’s a nice way to have friends,” she said.
“I really think it’s a gateway into meeting people,” Kay said. “I moved into an apartment building and I didn’t really know anybody, and all of a sudden, I have — there’s a game tonight, and I think about 12 people might show up.”
Kay said she finds a sense of peace through the traditional Chinese game.
“I find mahjong to be my mindfulness,” Kay said. “I’ve gone through things, and when I’m playing mahjong, I’m thinking about those tiles, not what’s going on in my life, and that’s really important.”
Kay has taught mahjong to teenagers at Beth El’s religious school, who have caught on quickly.
“I said, ‘Why do you want to learn mahjong?’” she recalled. “‘I want to play with my bubbe.’”
There may be a reason for the archetypal Jewish grandmother engrossed in a mahjong game with fellow older women.
“It also keeps you thinking and stimulated,” Karlsberg added. “As you get older, you need to have some things to make your brain keep working, and it does that.”
Playing mahjong for 12 weeks improved executive function in elderly people with mild cognitive impairment, according to a Frontiers in Neurology research article.
“It’s a great game — it’s tactile; it keeps your brain going,” Kay said. “There’s a lot of positives.”
Both brain and social-emotional health are important, according to Karlsberg.
“Last year, one of the women at the tournament was new to coming [to Beth El], and she has a whole other group because of the people that she met here,” Karlsberg said.
Kay and Karlsberg hope that even more players show up this year: “I’ve been pushing for more people,” Kay said.
“We’re hoping that everybody has a great time and that they enjoy [it] and come back again next year, tell their friends,” Karlsberg said. “[We’re] just hoping for a nice, successful, friendly tournament.”
