Page 14 - The Jewsish Voice - August '20

Page 14, The Jewish Voice
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GARY ROSENBERG, CRPC
VICE PRESIDENT / INVESTMENTS
LiFestyLes
What Does Faith Mean to You? caught the virus while at a small tournament held at a bridge
In late February/early March dozens of bridge players
By Rebbetzin Chana Vigler club in Colorado Springs, four people passed away, and 25
To many, faith is a distant, were hospitalized with serious complications. When the
incomprehensible concept news began to spread, bridge club directors everywhere
— one that is wrought with
had the startling realization that they were taking the same
challenge and discomfort. It precautions in Colorado that we were at our clubs; it could
is borne out of the struggles
of life. When things get way have happened anywhere. In mid-March it wasn’t just bridge
clubs that were faced with closures, but all non-essential
too hard to deal with, faith businesses. We were thinking in terms of weeks, but now
enters. Almost as a crutch to
here we are four months later with no clear reopening date
lean on when all else fails. in sight. In the meantime, the game of bridge has changed
To others it’s simply been
to become almost completely unrecognizable.
fed from the moment they Walking into a room filled with card tables and other bridge
were born. A way of life. Religion was placed on them like
a cloak fitted with heavy weights that thrust their shoulders players feels like coming home for many of us. Bridge players
are known for being quick thinking, social, and competitive.
so far down they nearly reach their knees. To them, faith is Many players have been playing at the same club with and
but obsolete. They hear it, they speak it, but their hearts are
against the same people for years. We all love the game, some
works empty and in constant search to be filled with something more may even call it an obsession, and because of that there are
to complete them, to fill them, to be content.
some new adjectives to add to the list: tenacious and adaptable.
purpose. It has made that line in the sand differentiating from Once it was clear there would be no face-to-face bridge in
To me, faith is a gift. It has guided me and given me
right and wrong so that I don’t need to debate it and wonder. the near future, the American Contract Bridge League hastily
partnered with the largest online bridge website, Bridge Base
It has shown me that we are all here for a reason and one day Online (BBO), to form virtual versions of existing bridge clubs.
we will report back to see how well we fared.
There was a steep learning curve for both directors and players
Many people walk the road of life questioning if there is a
and G-d. We, however, are privileged to know that what we see is who wanted to take their games online, and everyone agreed
that the biggest challenge would be convincing players to make
not what we get. That every human body has been bestowed the switch to online. Those big open rooms full of tables and
with a G-dly soul and is thus perfect, holy, and pure. That
every existence and every encounter is purposeful and meant people were about to be replaced by each player sitting alone
in their own home while staring at a screen. The bridge players,
to be. We are here to connect to others, to G-d, and to self. To however, seemed to collectively decide that online bridge was
learn lessons we couldn’t otherwise learn. That the physical
better than nothing and they flocked to learn the ins-and-outs
is intrinsically connected to the spiritual. It is knowing that of the new virtual games.
death is a part of life. For both directors and players this meant spending hours
I know that many may separate religion and faith. To me working through the convoluted process of learning their way
it is one and the same. To have faith is to have religion and around the BBO site. Even some of the fundamental rules of
to have religion is to have faith. If you believe in the Torah the game had to be changed to accommodate online play. I lost
you must believe in G-d and if you believe in G-d you must track of the number of phone calls that started with “I’m the
believe in the Torah. They are indivisible. only one who can’t figure this out!”, but it was all of us having
I choose to have faith. It enriches my life in more ways to learn the ins-and-outs of this new kind of bridge. One player
than I realize and I am blessed by it every single day. confided in me that they had never been to a website before.
Choosing to have faith is a reminder that I have in fact been I have to admit I wasn’t sure we could get there, but within a
chosen. Hand picked to accomplish very important tasks only couple of weeks they were playing bridge online right along
I could fulfill. Why else would I be on this earth? with everyone else. No matter how frustrating and confusing
Rebbetzin Chana Vigler is co-founder of Chabad of Palm it was, they just wouldn’t give up.
Beach Gardens and Ladies in Leadership Initiative (LiLi) I’ve never seen a group of people so willing to step out of
and co-host of The Sunday Schmooze. Email her at chana@ their comfort zone. They were using technology they weren’t
jewishgardens.com. comfortable with to play a game in a whole new way. It is truly
inspiring and it’s happening everywhere in almost every aspect
Bridge Goes Virtual of life. We are all having to adjust to the “new normal” and
learn different ways to do what we do. It’s daunting, but there
at Mandel JCC are creative problem solvers everywhere and people from all
walks of life are proving to be tenacious and adaptable. Never
By Chris Van Leeuwen let it be said that you can’t teach an old bridge player new tricks.
It is difficult to overstate the impact the Covid-19 crisis has The Mandel JCC offers daily virtual bridge games
had on our everyday lives, and especially our social outlets Sunday through Friday at 12:30 p.m. If you are interested in
and recreational activities. South Florida bridge clubs were participating in an online bridge game, join us at JCConline.
early adopters of safety measures, implementing changes com/bridge or contact Chris at 561-712-5276.
starting in February by putting away the buffet-style food Christina van Leeuwen is an ACBL Gold Life Master, part-
in favor of individual packaging, disinfecting everything time tournament director, and Bridge Director at the Mandel
from tables to bidding boxes, and scrounging up as much JCC in Palm Beach Gardens, where she teaches classes and
hand-sanitizer as we could, well, get our hands on. Bridge hosts daily bridge play and tournaments year-round. For the
is sort of a worst case scenario for this virus given that it Mandel JCC Bridge schedule, go to JCConline.com/bridge.
is played sitting only two or three feet apart, everyone is Chris may be reached at Bridge@JCConline.com.
handling playing cards, and the average age of the players
is somewhere in the low 70s. Lifestyles on page 16
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