Mah Jongg Circles

היום שמונה ועשרים יום שהם ארבעה שבועות לעומר
Today is twenty-eight days, which is four weeks of the omer
מלכות שבנצח
A day of majesty in a week of perseverance

I end this week with mah jongg--a community that has both interior and exterior circle on the Venn diagram of my life. The inner circles are the 3 different groups I play with. The circles don't intersect, but they are all nested two other circles.

One is my Jewish circle. I was invited to play mah jongg because I was New York Jew who liked to play games--I was a good fit for the group. And it just so happens that all the women I play with are Jewish.

The other is the circle that holds anyone who plays National Mah Jongg League mah jongg. No matter how different a person may be from me, this is a bond we will have, an identity we share as a mah jongg player.

These circles epitomize how communities are our connections to the world. Our lives are local and global. But if we can teach our children the importance of being a part of different communities, to foster these local and global connections, the next generations will be better prepared to work together. They will know to look at all the intersections of their Venn Diagrams, and use those common points to build a foundation of peace.