Page 6 - The Jewish Voice - November '19

Page 6, The Jewish Voice

Local Happenings from page 5

The group kickstarted the year of monthly farbrengens Requiring Logic, Skill, Bridge has been back in the news lately, thanks to research
with a candlelit soiree that included apple candles, apple and a Little Bit of Luck, that shows it can help slow the onset of dementia. Recently
pies and other pastries. They spoke about the important the University of Stirling, in the United Kingdon, announced
day of chai Elul, which is when Chassidus was born, and the Game of Bridge the creation of a new field of study looking into bridge and
recounted where it all came from and how it all started. They how it establishes social connections and promotes healthy
also discussed some practical tidbits to help with spiritual Stands the Test of Time! aging. Not bad for a card game!
Rosh Hashanah preparations. “No matter where I go, I can always make new friends
What would birthdays be without blessing one another By Chris Van Leeuwen, Bridge at the bridge table.” – Martina Navratilova
with good wishes for material and spiritual wealth? They Director, The Mandel JCC in If you’re interested in learning bridge, there are lessons
ended the evening with a surprise — gifts for all of the Palm Beach Gardens available at your local bridge club and many resources online.
birthday girls. What do Bill Gates, Isaac Christina van Leeuwen is an ACBL Gold Life Master,
Mizrahi, Martina Navratilova, a part time tournament director, and the Bridge Director at
and Snoopy have in common? the Mandel JCC in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida where she
They’re all bridge players, teaches classes and hosts daily bridge play and tournaments
and the list of bridge-playing both on- and off-site, year-round. For the JCC Bridge
luminaries doesn’t stop there. schedule, go to jcconline.com. Chris may be reached at
James Holzhauer is only the most bridge@jcconline.com.
recent of several bridge-playing Jeopardy! champions. In the
mid-twentieth century, expert bridge players were celebrities. Gardens Market
Bridge expert, Charles Goren, hosted his own television
show; and his hotly contested rivalry with Oswald Jacoby Hosts Tiny Synagogue
was followed in the newspapers. In the 1930s, married bridge
experts Ely and Josephine Culbertson could be found gracing The Jewish Community
magazine ads for everything from cocktail mixers to hand Synagogue marked
lotion. This might lead you to wonder: if bridge was once so Sukkot at the Palm Beach
ubiquitous, where did it go? Gardens Farmers Market
by helping attendees shake
the lulov and etrog in a tiny
synagogue. The shul was
constructed using pews
from an old synagogue in
Brooklyn that had been
demolished.

The answer is bridge remains one of the most popular
card games in the world, even if it isn’t often referenced in
popular culture these days. The American Contract Bridge
League (ACBL) boasts over 160,000 members, and that
number is only a fraction of the bridge players gathering to
play in kitchens, clubs, and tournaments. South Florida is
a hotbed of bridge activity featuring several of the biggest
clubs in North America all within easy driving distance of
one another.
Bridge finds its roots in the centuries-old game of whist.
The modern version known as contract bridge can be traced
with precision to 1925. Harold S. Vanderbilt, during an
otherwise uneventful trip aboard the SS Finland, changed
the scoring method for auction bridge and contract bridge
was born.
“If I’m playing bridge and a naked woman walks by, I
don’t even see her.” – Warren Buffett
At its core, bridge is a simple four person trick-taking
game using all 52 cards in a standard deck. The game is
played in pairs with two players working together to take as
many tricks as possible. Unlike other card games (Spades
or Hearts,) each hand begins with an auction that allows the
opponents to compete for the right to name the trump suit or
designate that it be played without a trump suit. There are
only a handful of rules that must be followed; after that it is
all left to logic, skill, and a little bit of luck. However, in clubs
and tournaments the hands are duplicated so that everyone
gets to play the same cards, thus minimizing the luck factor.
Bridge is one of the few competitive pursuits that allows
Southern Exposure Technologies players to choose not just to play against their peers, but also
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all too happy to tell you about the one time they got a good
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